Set This Cruise Control For Crash
by LizzayMartini
Summary: ..."Everyone needs a friend, Noah." "Yeah, well... You seem to be doing just fine without any."
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Glee and all of it's characters belong to Ryan Murphy and Fox Network. I am neither, hence the disclaimer.**

Noah was the next-to-last person to board the bus that would take them back to Lima and upon getting on, he immediately wished he would have been the first. Ten pairs of eyes were on him instantly. Seven of the ten were burning through his forehead with anger, one pair offered a look of sympathy, another seemed to be expecting him to speak, and the last pair seemed to almost be looking straight through him, sadness overshadowing any trace of anger that may have been there. Bowing his head, Noah headed straight for the seat in the very back of the bus, admitting defeat and accepting the fact that he would be sitting completely isolated from the rest of the club.

'Whatever.' He thought to himself. 'Let them think what they want. I could care less.'

Miss Pillsbury stood to speak, and Noah took that moment as a golden opportunity to turn on his iPod and put the earphones in, effectively drowning out the sound of the guidance counselor's voice with that of Mick Jagger.

Rachel had distanced herself from the other Gleeks as they headed back towards the bus, knowing that while they all were ecstatic to have just won Sectionals, as soon as they were back in Lima they would go back to treating her like a complete outcast for outing Quinn's secret. If she were being honest with herself, Rachel knew that while she said she only wanted Finn to be happy, the only person's happiness that had concerned her was her own, and for that she felt she completely deserved the cold shoulder from her supposed friends. She saw Miss Pillsbury standing through the windows of the bus and realized that everyone else had already boarded, and if she didn't as well they might very well leave her in Columbus.

Inhaling deeply, she prepared herself for the stares and whispers she knew would be waiting for her on the other side of the folding doors on the school bus. When she climbed the steps Miss Pillsbury immediately stopped mid-sentence to turn and see who was entering the bus.

"Rachel! I didn't realize you weren't with us." She explained apologetically. "Please, take a seat. I was just letting everyone know how proud Mr. Schuester is of all of you for today. He was on the phone listening to your entire performance."

Rachel simply nodded as her eyes scanned the bus for a place to sit. Mercedes and Tina were sitting together with Kurt leaning over the seat directly behind them, the three of them engaged in discussion. Brittany, Santana and Quinn were in a nearly opposite position, with Quinn sitting alone in one seat and Brittany and Santana leaning over the back of the seat in front of her. Matt and Mike sat across from each other and were discussing dance routines they'd like to work on for Regionals. Jacob Ben-Israel was eyeing her in what she assumed was meant to be a seductive manner, but all it did was make her wish she could vomit right there in the middle of the bus. She considering turning around and just sitting with Miss Pillsbury in the front when a Mohawk in the back caught her eye.

Noah had his earphones in and his head titled back and she could tell he must have been unceremoniously forced to sit alone as well. Deciding that now would be as good a time as any to try to make amends with her pseudo-friend, she held her head high and walked to the back of the bus, only stopping when Jacob arose from his seat to speak to her.

"Hello, Rachel. I'm so glad you've decided to sit with me, I certainly enjoyed being bus buddies on the way up here. Perhaps now that you've been alienated by your so-called friends you'll be more accepting of my advances."

"Hey Jewfro." A gruff voice spoke from behind them. "How many times does she have to say no before you get the fucking hint, huh?"

Jacob looked at Noah as though he would wet his pants at any moment. He may have had the most popular blog in western Ohio, but none of the jocks had ever even seemed to notice him, much less make a fool of him in front of his one true love, Rachel Berry.

"I, um… Well, you see, Puck-" he stammered.

"Sit down and shut up." Noah said, the anger and annoyance evident in his voice. "I don't think anyone has ever told you this, but you're really fucking annoying."

Jacob did as he was told and looked away from Rachel, who stood completely in shock of Noah's outburst. Before she could speak, his earphones were back in place and his head assumed the same position is had been in when she first noticed him in the back seat. She contemplated walking away; he seemed to want to be left alone. But, Rachel never had been one to back down from the task at hand until her mission had been accomplished. Current mission? Thank and apologize to Noah Puckerman before arriving back in Lima.

She took the seat next to him and smoothed out the invisible wrinkles of her skirt, as if making herself more presentable would make him more likely to accept her gratitude and her apology. When he didn't react to her sitting next to him, she cleared her throat. Still no response.

"Noah?" She all but whispered. When he still acted as if he didn't know she was there, she became furious. No one else seemed to want to talk to him after the whole fiasco of finding out he was the father of Quinn's baby, he had no reason to completely ignore the one person who did. 'Well,' she mused 'he does have a reason, but that is completely beside the point!' Without even thinking about it, she reached over and yanked the earphone out of his right ear, earning her a glare.

"What the fuck, Berry?" he said in a raised voice. Miss Pillsbury turned and gave him a warning look and he lowered his voice before turning back to Rachel. "What do you want?"

"To say thank you." She mumbled, looking down at her hands, which were laced together in her lap. "No one's ever stood up to Jacob for me before, and I really do appreciate the gesture. Though, you really have no reason to defend my honor, seeing as I've recently been the cause of all your problems. Which brings me to the original reason that I decided to join you in your solitude."

Noah rolled his eyes and pulled the ear bud from her hands, attempting to replace it in his ear before Rachel slapped his hand away.

"Noah! I am speaking to you!"

"Well, maybe I don't want to hear it, Berry. I got you out of sitting with Israel, you said thank you. I'm saying you're welcome. Now scram." The hurt look on Rachel's face did not go unnoticed by Noah, but he was in a bad enough mood that he honestly didn't care. Yes, his mother had raised him better than to make a girl cry, but Berry was right: she had been the reason that everyone hated him now.

"I will not, as you so eloquently put it, 'scram' until you hear what I have to say." She snatched the iPod from his hands when she saw him put the earphone sin again. "This is important, Noah. Please, just listen to me."

Noah looked at her and couldn't tell if the pleading look in her chocolate eyes was sincere, or just her part of her incredible acting ability that she was always bragging about. When they glazed over with tears, he knew he would end up listening to her. He may have been able to make her cry, but he couldn't stand having to see it too. "You have two minutes, Berry."

She gave him a weak smile before looking back at her hands, which were still in her lap but now cradled his iPod.

"I owe you an apology, Noah. More so, I think, than Finn and even Quinn. I was being selfish when I told him the truth, and I didn't even stop to think of how him knowing would affect the two of you, especially you. While I don't agree with the choice you and Quinn made to lie to him, I know that you were only doing as she asked you to because whether you'll admit it or not, you care about her and the baby. That being said, I'd like to offer my sincerest apologies and hope that we can move forward from here. I know you said when we broke up that we weren't friends before, but I'm hoping that after all of this, we can be friends now, Noah. I know that you more than anyone could probably use on now and I-"

"Shut up." He said cutting her off and prying the iPod from her hands.

"I beg your pardon?" Rachel asked, completely baffled.

"I said shut up. A simple 'sorry' would have been fine, Berry." He looked at their fellow gleeks in the seats ahead of them. "If they can all see Quinn's side of the story and not mine, then fuck them. I don't need any friends."

He hadn't meant for that last sentence to come out as melancholy as it did, and prayed that Rachel didn't catch onto his tone; she did. She laced her fingers through his, gently stroking the back of his hand with her thumb.

"Everyone needs a friend, Noah." She whispered softly.

"Yeah, well…" Puck jerked his hand from hers and folded his arms across his chest. "You seem to be doing just without any." Finally placing his earphones back into their respective ears, he slid across the seat to other side of the bus, leaning his head against the window and shutting out the world.

Rachel put her head down but refused to cry. 'He's just dealing with everything the only way he knows how' she reasoned with herself. Glancing at Noah one last time, Rachel stood up and took her originally intended seat next to Miss Pillsbury in the front of the bus.

As soon as the bus came to a complete stop in front of McKinley, Rachel grabbed her back and bolted from the bus to her Daddy's Lexus, kissing him on the cheek before getting into the passenger's seat. She watched as the other students filed out of the bus, chatting excitedly amongst themselves. She felt a wave of sadness wash over her as she saw them divide into their small groups: Brittany, Santana and Quinn, Kurt, Tina and Mercedes, Matt and Mike, Jacob, and last but not least Noah. When he caught her gaze, she averted her eyes, hoping that she had only imagined him catching her staring at him.

"Are you alright, pumpkin?" Seth Berry, Rachel's Daddy, asked as he climbed into the driver's seat and buckled his seat belt.

"I'm fine." She said, wiping a lone tear from her eye before plastering on a smile and recounting her daddy with the details of the competition.

As Noah watched Rachel mouth the words "I'm fine" to her father and put on what he knew was one of her fake smiles, he couldn't help the knot forming in his gut as the guilt of being the cause of that tear set in. 'Shit,' He thought to himself 'she can whip out a guilt trip without even saying anything. I'm in trouble.'

**A/N: OK, so after an extensive break from writing ANYTHING (it's a longgggg story :/) I am back! I have five chapters written for Need You Now, but seeing as it has been an eternity since I updated that I decided to look them over and make some changes, seeing as I have new ideas for that story now and I want to get this one started and finished before Glee comes back. Reviews are great! And those of you who reviewed NYN all those months ago and have it on your alerts, I'm so sorry for the eternal delay! But you can expect an update no later than tomorrow night, maybe even tonight if I get around to it! **

**Like I said, reviews are great, and I love some feedback on this chapter. I have the next three or so chapters pre-planned, but want to know what you all think so that I know whether I'm taking a step in the right direction or not. **

**Love & Rockets :]**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Glee and its characters belong to Ryan Murphy and Fox Network. I am neither, hence the disclaimer.**

Noah stood at the island in his kitchen mixing ingredients while he flipped through the pages of "The Great Gatsby". He may have had the reputation of being a total badass, but Noah Puckerman was no dummy. While Math and History bored him to tears, English was possibly his favorite subject. Sure, he didn't always speak the way he could given his love of reading and extensive vocabulary, but that didn't mean he didn't appreciate the art of the words on the page of a good book. He was lost in thoughts of Daisy Buchanan and didn't hear his younger sister come down the stairs.

"Noaaaahh!!" Anna yelled from her spot at the foot of the stairs, a mere 10 feet away. "I need help with my homework!"

"I'm busy right now, Sport." Noah replied, turning to see Anna holding a math book. 'Oh, great. She needs help with _math_. Kill me now.' "When I'm done in here I'll help you, kay?"

"Okay." Anna turned to retreat to her bedroom when she saw ingredients for cake scattered across the kitchen island. "What did you do?"

Puck looked at his sister incredulously. Seriously, couldn't a guy just bake a cake out of the goodness of his heart? "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You only bake when you're about to tell mom really bad news." Anna stated matter-of-factly. "So what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Puck replied, trying his hardest to avoid the pointed look his sister was giving him. For an eight-year-old, Anna was pretty observant about these things. "Ok, maybe I did do something, but you can NOT tell Mom, do you hear me?"

"We are officially in the Cone of Silence, Noah." She climbed into a stool at the counter and rested her elbows on the tile, propping her chin in her hands. "Spill."

"I made a girl cry." Noah blurted out. He had meant to start off with the fact that this girl ruined his life, but that would mean explaining to her what she had done to ruin his life which would eventually lead to him telling her about the baby and he was definitely not ready to have a Birds and the Bees talk with his baby sister. "And she's Jewish. And I feel like complete shit-"

"Curse!" Anna shrieked, swatting her brother on the arm for good measure.

"CRAP. I feel like complete _crap_ about it." Noah corrected himself, rolling his eyes as Anna stuck her tongue out at him through the gap where her front teeth used to be. "So I'm making her a cake to apologize."

"Is it that Rachel girl?" Anna questioned innocently.

"What? No. What makes you say that?" Noah said, stumbling over the words as they came out.

"Because you have star-shaped sprinkles, and when I asked you who put the star sticker on the back of your guitar, you said it was Rachel." Anna shrugged. Her brother could be so dense sometimes. "And you said the only reason you let her do it is because she was a hot Jew. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out, Noah."

Noah said nothing, because he knew that at eight there was no way he would have been able to put two and two together so fast. Why did she need his help with math again?

"Ok, fine. It's for Rachel. But I swear, Anna, if you tell Mom about this she will have a freakin' cow that I made a nice Jewish girl cry. And you know Mom. I'm already gonna have to deal with Berry's crazy tonight, I don't hers too."

"How did you make her cry?"

"Because she's a chick with no friends and I'm the only person in Glee who felt the need to point that out to her." Puck could feel his cheeks flush from embarrassment. Sure, he had been pissed at the time, but that was no excuse whatsoever for him to say what he said to Rachel, and as long as the thought stayed in his head, he would even admit that he was ashamed of himself for it.

"Maybe you should be her friend, Noah. It can't be very fun to not have friends." Anna patted his shoulder and disappeared up the stairs into her bedroom to finish her Language Arts homework before having to ask Noah for help with Math.

* * *

Three hours and two pages of fractions ("I get to take fourth grade math because I'm super smart, Noah!") later, Puck had finished decorating the cake and was frying hamburger to make spaghetti sauce for dinner. After pouring the meat into the pot of tomato sauce, he looked to the counter to admire his handiwork. The cake (which was lemon because during their week of dating, Rachel had found it simply amazing that they both preferred lemon cake to chocolate) was covered completely in hot pink icing and little yellow star sprinkles. On the top were the words "I'm Sorry", written in purple. Being the undercover literature buff that he was, he wanted something to symbolize her love of grape slushies. She was always speaking nonsense about metaphors; well this cake was the closest thing to a tangible metaphor that she would get from Noah "Puck" Puckerman.

Returning to the task at hand, he stirred the sauce while mixing in the packet of spaghetti sauce seasoning he had lying on the back of the stove. Knowing that Anna hated when he mixed the sauce with the noodles, he declared dinner ready and shouted up the stairs for his sister. Reaching into the cabinets he pulled out two plates; a plain glass plate for himself, and a plastic seahorse plate for Anna. He cut a slice of French bread and scooped some noodles onto each plate before adding sauce to his own.

"Anna!" Noah shouted, not looking up from his plate. "Did you hear me? I said-"

"I heard you the first time!" Anna shouted back, stifling a giggle when he brother jumped slightly. "Noah, the cake is… pink." She crinkled her nose is disgust, as if even seeing the color made her sick to her stomach.

"Yeah, well that's her favorite color, so…"

"Awwwwwe!" Anna squealed. "You _like _her!"

"Fuck no, I don't!"

"Curse! Curse! Noah said a curse!"

"Whatever." He grumbled, snatching the ladle from the sauce pot, pouring some onto Anna's plate and mixing it with the noodles. "Eat."

"You mixed my food!!!!" The young girl shrieked, causing Noah to cover his ears. "I hate you! I hate you! I HATE YOU!!!"

"Whatever." Puck grabbed his plate and headed to the living room and grabbed a TV tray, turning on "How I Met Your Mother" before tuning out his sister as she stormed upstairs with her plate in her hand. The last thing her heard before starting on his own food was her door slamming. "Thank fuck." He muttered under his breath. He loved Anna, sure, but she could be more dramatic than Berry sometimes, and _everyone_ was entitled to want to strangle anyone that crazy from time to time.

* * *

After dropping Anna off with the next door neighbors, Noah went back into his house to grab the box he had put the cake into the deliver it to Rachel. He placed the box into the passenger seat of his Camaro. It was old, and rusty, and a total work-in-progress, but he had saved for an entire year in order to pay $500 for it at the junk yard, and another $500 over the next six months to get in up and running. This was his baby. 'Until Quinn pops out the kid, anyway…' he thought, sadly at first, but he was determined to make her see that he wanted his daughter. "One step at a time." He told himself as he climbed into the driver's seat and drove almost on auto-pilot to Rachel's house, nothing to three cars in the driveway; her dad's Prius, daddy's Lexus and Rachel's Ford Focus. "Well shit, now I have to apologize to her in front of them. Fuck me…"

He sat in his car for a few minutes, trying to figure out what exactly he would say to her. He had never said the words "I'm sorry" to anyone in his life, save for his mother and the time he apologized for slushies past when he and Rachel were alone in the bathroom. Keyword there being "alone." If her dads weren't home, he would just hand her the cake and leave, but there was no way he was going to humiliate her in front of the two men who believed everything was fine and that she actually had friends. 'Man up, Puckerman. It's just Berry. All you gotta do is give her the cake, say you're sorry and leave. Maybe you won't even have to see her dads.' Too late.

"Can I help you, son?" Josiah Berry, Rachel's dad, asked from the passenger window and Noah immediately regretted driving with the windows down in the first place.

"Um, yes sir. My name's P-Noah Puckerman." He figured her fathers might not take too kindly with Rachel talking to a boy who went by 'Puck'. "I'm a… friend of Rachel's. Is she home?"

"Come on inside, we were just about to sit down for dinner. Join us!" Josiah said, ecstatic to finally meet one of Rachel's friends. "Rachel's told us a lot about you!"

"She has?" Noah asked, completely confused, as he grabbed the cake and got out of the car. "Like what kinda stuff has she told you?"

"Nothing bad, I promise." Josiah said, smiling and the baffled look on Noah's face. "Josiah Berry, Rachel's dad. I'm such a horrible host, not introducing myself like that. My sincerest apologies!"

"Nice to meet you, sir." Noah said, extending his hand to offer a handshake.

"Please," Josiah said, taking Noah's hand in his own. "Call me Joe."

Noah nodded as they reached the front door of the Berry household. He had been here three times in the week that he'd dated Rachel, but had never seen any part of it but her bedroom. It was much bigger than his own, and once inside he could see why Rachel was as uptight as she was. His house was always clean, but this one was the definition of spotless. Not a single paper was out of place on the desk in the office that they passed, not DVD cases stacked on the TV set, no coats thrown over the back of the couch. Noah decided instantly that if he lived in a house this clean, he would commit suicide after 24 hours.

"Rachel, dinner time!" Josiah called up the stairs to his daughter. "What's that you have there, Noah?" he asked, as if noticing the box in the boy's hands for the first time.

"Oh, just something for Rachel…" he replied, hoping that her father would get the hint and not pry anymore. Thankfully Rachel had a pretty observant dad because he didn't ask any questions after that.

"What are we having tonight, Dad?" Rachel asked as she descended the stairs. "Noah?" she asked in disbelief. Her eyes had to be deceiving her; there was simply no way that Noah Puckerman was in her house conversing with her father at the foot of the stairs. "What are you doing here?"

Seeing the uncomfortable look on the young man's face, Josiah excused himself and headed into the kitchen to make a place for Noah at the table.

"Well?" Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips impatiently. She was kind of cute when she was irritated, Noah decided, before the thought was pushed away with the reminded that he had caused the irritation.

"I just… Well… I wanted to…" he slowly looked up to meet her eyes. The hurt that had been there the day before was replaced with pure anger now. Shit. "Here." He said, handing her the box and stuffing his hands into his pockets, waiting for her to open it.

She looked at him curiously before slowly lifting the lid, as if any sudden movements could cause it to explode like a bomb. When she had lifted enough to see what was inside she caught his eye again, questions swimming through her mind. She pulled the lid back all the way to reveal a pink cake. She no longer looked angry and Noah let out a breath he hadn't been aware he'd been holding until then.

"It's lemon." He said, which was rewarded with a mega-watt smile that definitely wasn't one of her fake ones.

"I accept your apology, Noah."

"Just so we're clear, Berry: this doesn't mean we're friends now." He didn't say it in a harsh tone like he had before, and that gave Rachel hope. She nodded her understanding, her smile never faltering. "Right, well… I have to get home before my mom, so I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Noah."

"Goodnight, Berry."

Noah turned and headed for the door, looking over his shoulder once to see Rachel smiling at her pink cake. He had gotten her to forgive him and still not hound him about being friends? He was _so _the man.

**OK guys, I appreciate all the alerts and favorites and ESPECIALLY reviews the first chapter go so here is chapter two! I got 9 reviews, and 37 alerts. That's a LOT of alerts!! Come on guys, you can tell me what you think good or bad! I'm working on the next chapter already, which will feature (gag me now, please?) Finn. Noah said they're still not friends, which Rachel takes as they are sooo totally friends now. Finn no likey. But that's ok, because I don't like him so much. Anyway! NYN is going to be on the back burner because this story has gotten a better response and I'm not feeling it anymore for that. Will update sporadically as requested by readers, but other than that this is my new focus. Someone mentioned liking the title of this a lot, so I challenge ya'll to find the band/song. The actual title is more the reason I chose the lyric. Anyway, happy reading, I hope to get more reviews than I did for chapter one!! if not, oh well. **

**Love & Rockets :]**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Glee and its characters are owned by Ryan Murphy and Fox Network. I am neither, hence the disclaimer.**

The Monday after Sectionals arrived rather quickly after the weekend Rachel had had and she felt lighter than air. Saturday they had taken first place at the competition and she had spent much of Sunday locked in her room singing songs that reflected upon her doleful mood. Knowing in the back of your mind that you had no friends was one thing, but having someone who hated you confirm it to your face was something completely different and it had set something off within Rachel that made her want to bawl her eyes out. So when said someone showed up in her home Sunday night to apologize, the gears in her head began turning and she eventually came to the conclusion that perhaps she did have a friend. After all, if Noah didn't care, he wouldn't have apologized at all, right? And he certainly wouldn't have baked her and "I'm Sorry" cake. Smiling to herself as she opened her locker, Rachel silently cheered for the small victory of finally having a friend.

As she replaced the textbooks she had taken home with her with the books she would need for her classes before lunch, she scanned the hallways for a Mohawk and letterman jacket. She had been asked by her fathers to extend a dinner invitation to the "striking young boy with the ridiculous haircut", and though her first thought was to actively forget to ask him, one bite from her lemon cake and it had taken all of Rachel's self-control not to call Noah and invite him to their house as soon as dinner was over.

Distracted by her search for Noah, she didn't notice another boy leaning against her locker as she fixed her eyes on the front entrance of the school.

"Hey, Rachel." Finn said casually, not seeming to notice that she hadn't seen him until she flinched and clutched her chest with her hand, dropping her Pre-Calculus book to the ground. Immediately feeling bad for startling his friend, Finn bent down to pick the book up for her. "Sorry about that."

"It's perfectly fine Finn, I just didn't see you there." Rachel said, blushing slightly. "Can I help you with something?"

"Oh, I just wanted to see if you were ok. I called you last night and you never called me back."

Rachel smiled at the sentiment; Finn was worried about her! Not only were she and Noah friends, but this was proof that Finn cared about her. He wasn't just using her to forget about her, Finn Hudson cared about her. Rachel was in absolute Heaven.

"Everything's absolutely splendid, Finn!" She exclaimed louder than she had originally intended to.

"Like the sugar?" Finn's brow furrowed in confusion. "So, is that like, code for everything's sweet? Cool word." He smiled, proud of himself for learning a new lingo term.

"No, Finn." Rachel resisted the urge to giggle, not wanting to insult her future boyfriend's intelligence. "Not like the su-"

She trailed off when she saw the boy she had originally been hoping to see this morning came into her field of view. He looked sad, she thought to herself. His face wasn't graced with his usual cocky smirk, and the stares people were giving him as he passed by didn't go unnoticed by Rachel. For someone who claimed to not want and or need any friends, he certainly looked miserable without his usual circle of football players surrounding him. She also noted that the only girl who stopped to say anything to him had been Quinn, and she hadn't really said much, just handed him an envelope of medical bills and walked away. 'She looks miserable, too.' Rachel felt sadness wash over her. Brittany and Santana had chatted with her amiably on the bus, but Rachel heard the awful things they said about Quinn when they thought no one else in Glee was listening. 'Why must I be so perceptive?'

"So what do you think?" Finn's voice drew her form her reverie and it wasn't until he asked the question that she realized he'd been talking at all. Having not listened to a single word he'd said prior to asking what she thought, Rachel thought nothing.

"I don't mean to be rude, Finn. But I really must be going; I have some business to attend to before class."

"Oh." Finn said, his face falling for a moment before lighting back up. "Wanna have lunch together?"

"Of course!" Rachel gave him a genuine smile. "I'll see you then!" She closed her locker and all but skipped down the hall towards Noah. "Good morning, Noah. Did you sleep well?"

Noah gave her a look that, had she been someone else, would have clearly said "I'm not in the mood to deal with your crazy." But, because she was Rachel, she just continued to babble on.

"You don't look as though you've had a very peaceful slumber. Are you feeling well?"

"I'm fine, Berry." Noah spat out quickly. "Is there a reason you're bothering me this early in the morning?"

"Oh, how stupid of me. It completely slipped my mind what I came over here to ask you." Noah cocked an eyebrow at her but nodded for her to continue. "On behalf of my fathers I would like to extend an invitation for you to have dinner at my house tonight."

"On behalf of your fathers?" Noah groaned. Her dads couldn't have possibly thought he was gay, could they?

"Yes. Dad wasn't too thrilled that you didn't stay last night" Rachel began to explain. "And they're both just so happy that I finally have a friend that they-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Rewind a second." Noah cut her off. "I thought I made myself clear that you and I are not friends, Berry?"

"Oh." Rachel's eyes fell to the floor. This morning she had woken up completely thrilled to finally have someone that she could talk to, about anything really. She'd never had any close girl friends, and the only boys who gave her the time of day were those from Glee and all she really wanted was someone to have a companionable conversation with. "I just thought that you were trying to maintain your, as you call it, 'badass' exterior while still giving me an olive branch of sorts. I'm sorry to have misinterpreted that. I'll leave now…"

Again with the guilt trip. He had a sneaking suspicion that baking a purple cake with pink writing wouldn't have quite the same effect that the pink one with purple writing had the night previous, and he could think of no alternative to apologize than to just go to dinner. Could she really be that bad? She was actually quite tolerable when she wasn't acting like a complete psycho, and he really had no idea what she was like at home. Maybe it would even be fun. 'Scratch that, Puckerman. This is going to be torture. But, you know, it sure would be nice to have someone, _anyone_, not hate you…'

"Wait, Rach." Noah called after her before he could stop himself, realizing too late that he had called her by her first name. "Will your dads mind if I bring my sister? My mom works late and I can't leave her home alone."

"Seven o'clock?" Rachel said, not turning for fear that he would publicly reject her once again. Somehow, platonic rejection stung much worse than Finn's rejections of her romantic advances. She didn't think she could allow Noah to see her breakdown should he turn her down yet again.

"Seven sounds great. See you then." He said, waiting for her to look at him. He saw her shoulders relax as she exhaled.

"Excellent!" She said, whipping her head around so fast, Noah was shocked she hadn't given herself whiplash. "My fathers will be so ecstatic!" Just as quickly, she whipped her head back around and marched off to class. Noah shook his head, smiling slightly. There really was no telling with that girl, he mused. One minute she was on the verge of tears, the next smiling that smile and looking at him like he hung the moon. Or the stars. Probably the stars. Yeah, she liked stars better than moons. Ok… maybe having Rachel as a sort-of-friend wouldn't be so bad. Not if her being that happy could make him feel a little less worthless, anyway. Unbeknownst to Noah, a certain towering quarterback had witnessed the entire exchange from afar.

*~*

Rachel carried the paper bag that contained her lunch into the cafeteria, scanning the entire student body for Finn. As if on cue, her phone vibrated in the pocket of her dress: a text from Finn.

_Meet in auditorium?_

She found the fact that he had probably used T9 to spell the word "auditorium" completely adorable, and endearing. She turned and headed down the hall towards the auditorium. She smiled brightly and nodded at Noah as she passed him on his way to the cafeteria. He gave her a puzzled look but she thought nothing of it.

Upon entering the auditorium, her thoughts went to the last time she and Finn had hung out, just the two of them, in there. The memory, however, was cast aside when she saw Finn sitting at the edge of the stage, his legs dangling in the air, hands folded together in his lap. She couldn't help but think he looked like a child, put in time out for not sharing the yellow crayon. Making her way to the stage, she tucked her skirt beneath her and joined him at the edge of the stage, her own calves matching half the length of his. Had he always been this gargantuan?

"Hey." He whispered as she began to dig through the brown bag the pulling out her sandwich.

"Hey." She replied. "Is something the matter?"

"No, it's nothing." Finn tried to assure her, but she gave him a pointed look, letting him know that she knew he was lying. "Ok, well, it's something."

"What?" Rachel asked, alarmed.

"Just, don't get mad, ok? I want to be completely honest with you because I think you deserve that, but I don't want you to get your feelings hurt."

"Ok…" Rachel nodded, putting her food to the side and looking straight ahead, mirroring him. "Go on?"

"It's just…" Finn sighed, searching for the right words to say. "I don't want to come across the wrong way, but I don't like you talking to Puck."

"Wh-what?!" Rachel's head snapped in his direction at the statement. "He's my friend, Finn, why wouldn't I talk to him?"

"How can you not hate him after what he did to me?" Finn replied accusingly. "I thought you were on my side, Rach?"

"I didn't know I was supposed to be picking sides." Rachel responded dryly, irritated that he felt he had the right to tell her who to and not to talk to.

"I don't know if you've been paying attention, but everyone is. You're either on my side or theirs'."

"I hardly think that Quinn and Noah are on the same 'side', Finn." She scoffed, irritated that he was really saying this to her. "She still refuses to let him be in his daughter's life. I'm sorry that they hurt you, I really am. And I wish I could make the pain go away because I care about you, but I'm not on anyone's side. Someone besides me finally understands what it's like to have everyone hate them, and I'm not heartless enough to make him go through that alone."

"I don't hate you, Rach." Finn smiled to himself. How could he ever hate Rachel? She was amazing, and perfect, and she never lied to him. "In fact, I like you… a lot. I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"It's ok." Rachel whispered. She felt a shiver go down her spine as he reached over to stroke her forearm. She couldn't see, but she was willing to bet that the hairs on the back of her neck were standing at full length. "I forgive you. And I'm sorry that you dislike my friendship with Noah, I just hope that someday you can be friends with him again, too."

"Yeah. Me, too."

*~*

After school had let out Noah waited for Quinn at her locker. She had given him an ultrasound bill this morning for $425 and note saying that if he wanted to be there for his daughter, he needed to help her pay this. So, after lunch he ditched 5th and 6th period and went to the bank to withdraw as much as he could. $315 dollars later he bank account was zeroed out and he still need $110 to pay off this bill. And Quinn was only halfway through her pregnancy. If he wanted to convince her that he could be counted on and could be responsible and take care of his baby girl, he needed a job. So, he drove around Lima for an hour and a half and filled out an application for every café, store, anything that had signs in the window advertising employment opportunities.

When she saw him standing there, Quinn slowed her pace and approached with caution.

"Can I help you?" She asked tentatively. Opening her locker and putting away books she wouldn't need for her homework tonight.

"Here." He said, stuffing the bills into her hand. "I know, that's not the full amount. But that should keep the doctor off your back long enough for me to get together the rest. And I've filled out like 20 applications today, so I'm hoping I'll have a part-time job soon. I'm gonna take care of her Quinn, even if you won't let me take care of you."

"Thanks." Quinn mumbled, looking at the money in her hands, shocked that he had taken her seriously. "I really do appreciate it. I know I can be a complete bitch sometimes, and don't tell me you haven't thought that because I know you have, but I really do appreciate the help. I couldn't do this if it weren't for you."

"She's mine, too." Noah said simply, as if that in itself was the answer. "Where are you staying? I've been meaning to ask you, but you're pretty good at avoiding people when you want to."

"I'm staying with Brittany, but her parents are only giving me a week to find somewhere else to live." She said sadly. "I can't stay with you. I know you're going to ask, and I'm sorry but I just can't. I'm not comfortable with it, but I appreciate the offer."

"We have a basement, Quinn." He pleaded. He was determined to show her how serious he was about this. Well, serious about the baby, maybe not her so much, he realized over the past week or so. "We don't have to share a room or anything. And we have a spare bed down there just in case, and a TV. You wouldn't even have to see any of us because it has its own entrance."

Quinn eyed him, mulling over his suggestion but opted not to reply.

"At least consider it, please? You stressing about where you're going to stay next week or the week after that, it's can't be good for her. For our daughter."

"Puck…" Quinn always seem to get emotional when he referred to the baby as "theirs" and not "hers", but maybe getting her worked up would help him convince her to stay with him. As sappy and lame as it sounded, he wanted to be able to be there when she had a pizza craving at 3 in the morning, and when the baby started kicking, and for all the doctor's appointments. This was his daughter, and he loved her. And if getting Quinn to live with him until she was born was the only way he could bond with her before she was handed over to strangers, then that's what he was going to do.

"Just, think about it."

"Ok." Quinn finally said, defeated. "I'll think about it. And thanks again. Really. I know I've apologized already, but I'm sorry for ever calling you a Lima Loser."

Noah just smirked before pushing himself off of the row of lockers and headed towards the music room.

*~*

"So, me and you eating dinner with Rachel and her dad has nothing to do with you having a crush on her?"

"Dad_s_, plural, Sport." Noah corrected as he ushered her out of their house, locking up before heading to the Camaro. "And no, it has nothing to do with me having a crush on her."

"So you admit that you have a crush on her?"

"What? No! No fair, you tricked me into that! Cheater!" Noah knew that he sounded about Anna's age at the moment, but she really was getting on his nerves. How did an eight year old know anything about this stuff? "Let's be clear here: you say anything about a crush, or feelings, or any of that shit in front of Rachel and her dads, I will come home and burn every Hannah Montana anything that you own. And I will never play you Disney music on my guitar again. And you can forget about me teaching you to play, too."

"Fine. I'll just sit there and do nothing." Anna rolled her eyes, sliding into the passenger seat and buckling up. "Can I at least breathe, please? I'd like to live to see my ninth birthday."

"Please breathe, I don't want to listen to mom bitching about killing you or whatever." Noah replied, laughing at his sister. Pain in the ass though she may be, she was becoming more and more like him every single day, and he wondered briefly if his own little girl would be the same. Looking over his shoulder, he backed out of the driveway and drove to Rachel's house.

As they parked in front of the house, Anna's eyes filled with wonder at the size of it. Sure, they're house wasn't exactly small, but she couldn't imagine having a house this large.

"Are they rich or something?" She blurted out. "What do her daddies do?"

"Um, you know, Sport I have no idea what they do." He admitted, trying to remember if Rachel had mentioned at any point what her fathers did for a living.

"Some friend you are." Anna mumbled, unbuckling her seat belt, pausing before getting out of the car. "Noah" she said quietly, concerning Puck who sat back down in the driver's seat and faced her, worry evident on his face.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling ok?"

"I'm fine. It's just…" Anna glanced at her brother before studying her feet on the floorboard. "Nothing. Never mind. I wanna meet Rachel now!" she flung herself from the car and bolted to the front door, pushing the doorbell once before turning to see Noah jog across the lawn.

"Are you sure you're ok?" He whispered, putting his hand on her shoulder. She simply shrugged before he removed his hand, getting the hint that she didn't want to talk about it. Again, she was a lot like him in that way. He wasn't any good at talking about feelings, or anything really. He gave her a small smile before looking up to see Rachel standing in the doorway, leaving him to wonder if he was too dressed down for this dinner. Rachel wasn't wearing one of her signature skirts and sweater vests, but the yellow dress he recognized from the girls' mash up routine. Her hair was curled instead of wavy and she actually had a bit of makeup on. She looked, well, for lack of a better word, _hot._

"Hello, Noah!" Rachel greeted them brightly. Looking down at the young girl, she stuck out her hand. "You must be Noah's sister. Hi, I'm Rachel."

"Anna Puckerman." Anna took Rachel's hand and shook it firmly. "What do your daddies do to pay for a house like this?"

"Anna!" Noah elbowed her gently, chiding her for her rather rude question. "Sorry, she's not the brightest crayon in the box and her manners pretty much suck." Noah said, leaning over and giving Rachel a side hug. "You look really nice; maybe I should have dressed a little nicer…"

"Noah, don't you worry! You look absolutely fine!" Josiah shouted as he headed for the door, followed closely by the other Mr. Berry. "See, Seth! I told you I didn't imagine Rachel having an attractive, male friend!"

"Dad!" Rachel shrieked, her entire face going red from embarrassment. She looks at Noah and mouths a 'sorry' but he simply nods and reaches his hand out to the dad he hasn't met

"Noah Puckerman."

"Seth Berry. Good to meet you young man." Seth smiled. Noah had certainly lived up to Josiah and Rachel's description of him. "So, you're in Glee with our Rachel?"

"My brother is the best singer in the WORLD." Anna interjected proudly, grinning her toothless grin.

"I'm sure he has nothing on our Rachel." Seth said laughing at her. "And who might you be little lady?"

"Oh, this is my sister, Anna. I'm sorry to have brought her but my mom works late and I couldn't leave her home alone." Noah explained quickly. "Thanks for inviting us."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all Noah, really." Josiah replied. "Now, you mind explaining to us why you high-tailed it out of here last night? I was quite looking forward to having you for dinner last night."

"I left Anna with a neighbor, but I needed to beat my mom home so she wouldn't know I'd been here." The Misters Berry nodded in understanding.

"You're very lucky to have such a caring older brother, young lady." Josiah said smiling at her.

"I guess…" Anna sighed sarcastically, rolling her eyes as her brother gaped at her. How dare she question his badassness in front of Rachel and her parents! "So what's for dinner?"

"We're having chicken parmesan." Rachel, who had been uncharacteristically quiet during the entire exchange, piped up.

"So, you guys aren't kosher?" Noah asked, somewhat shocked - in a good way - by the news that the Berry family weren't as devoutly Jewish as he had imagined.

"You're Jewish?" Seth practically chirped. He shared a knowing look with Josiah and Noah had to resist the urge to groan. Not only would he have his mother riding him about dating Rachel, the nice Jewish girl, he had just set her dads up to believe that they were destined to be. 'Well, fuck me.'

"Uh, yeah. But we're not really kosher either."

"Excellent! Let's eat!" Josiah clapped his hands, returning to the kitchen to set the table. "Puckerman! Don't you dare leave while I'm not in there!" He shouted over his shoulder, causing everyone to go into a fit of laughter. Ok, so maybe dinner at Rachel's wasn't going to torture after all.

**A/N: Yay! I reached my goal of getting more reviews for last chapter than the first!! So I felt very, very motivated to get this one typed up. I hadn't meant for it to be as long, and the rest of dinner was originally part of this chapter, but I decided to split into two parts. **

**Special thanks to those who reviewed both chapters so far! Looking forward to what you guys think of this!! This double-length chapter is for you guys!! Maybe I can get more reviews than last chapter? Come on guys! Let's make it a game! Every update I get +1 review! It'll be fun!! If not, I definitely appreciate the alerts/favorites and the reviews that I do get!!**

**Up next: the rest of Dinner at the Berrys' (Berries? Huh.), more interaction with Noah/Quinn, Rachel/Finn, featuring Rachel/Quinn and hints of Quinn/Finn. In a couple of chapters, there will be a Noah/Finn showdown (non-violent, I promise!), as well as Noah coming to terms with the fact that Rachel really isn't a bad friend to have.**

**Love & Rockets :]**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for taking so long to get this up! Long story short: appendicitis sucks, ripping your stitches two days after surgery sucks even more.**

**Disclaimer: Glee and its characters are owned by Ryan Murphy and Fox Network. I am neither, hence the disclaimer.**

Placing a hand gently on Anna's shoulder, Rachel led her into the dining room and gestured for Noah to follow. Once in the dining room, the aroma from the chicken filled Noah's senses and he could feel his mouth watering. For a family that claimed to live on take out, one of them sure could cook.

"Wow. The food smells awesome, Joe." He stated as he pulled a chair out for his sister. "Do you need help setting the table?"

"Well, thank you Noah, but you're our guest! No need for you to lift a finger." Josiah pulled out five square plates from a cabinet above the stove while Seth pulled out five knives and five forks out of a drawer. While the idea of having two dads had originally irked Noah to the extremes, seeing them together wasn't all that odd. They fit, he decided, as sappy as it sounded.

"So, um…" Noah fidgeted in his seat, not sure what to say or do. "Who cooked? It really does smell and look great."

"Rachel." Seth and Josiah said in unison, smiling at their daughter as she blushed furiously from her seat across from Noah, trying her best to avoid his smirk. She had never had a friend over for dinner, much less an attractive male friend (yes, she had noticed he was attractive, who wouldn't?), but she hadn't expected her fathers little comments to bother her as much as they did. Not that they had meant to embarrass her, but still. As her fathers placed food on everyone's plates, Rachel thanked Yahweh above for the distraction. "Alright everyone, let's eat!" Josiah said excitedly, glancing back and forth between Rachel and her guests.

"So, Noah," Seth said between bites. "Rachel tells us you're a very talented guitarist."

"Well, I don't know about very talented, but I'd like to think I'm pretty good, yeah." Noah replied, nudging Anna as she rolled her eyes, modesty definitely was not his best suit.

"How long have you been playing?" Josiah piped in.

"Um, four years? I got my guitar for my bar mitzvah, and I'll be seventeen next month so… yeah, four years."

"Have you ever considered pursuing a musical career?" Josiah poured himself and Seth a glass of wine.

"Not really." Noah glanced at Rachel for a split second. "I mean, I think it'd be awesome, but I really don't know what I want to do with my life yet. School's not exactly my thing, but there's not much you can do without it, ya know?"

Rachel's fathers nodded their heads in understanding. When Rachel had been eight years old, she told them she was dropping out of third grade because anyone as talented as her didn't need school to get where they wanted to go. They had to explain to her that being talented wasn't everything, which is why everyone should go to college so they can work at a nice job until they caught a break. "I'll catch my break before I have to go to college, Daddy." Rachel had promised at the time.

"I wanna be an marine biologist I grow up." Anna interjected proudly.

"Wow, Anna." Rachel said, shocked. "That's certainly very ambitious of you!"

"Way to make me look super lame…" Noah said under his breath, stabbing his fork into his chicken like a hunter spearing a zebra.

"What sparked your interest in that particular field, Anna?" Seth asked.

"I like animals." Anna replied slowly, as if trying to make Seth understand something more complex than average dinner conversation 'Why are adults such dummies?' "I like otters and seahorses and dolphins best. I wanna study them and if I can get paid to do something I wanna do anyway, why not?"

"Well, you have a very bright little sister, Noah." Josiah smiled at him from the head of the table.

"Yeah, she's going places." Noah said, smiling at his sister who was obliviously chatting with Seth, informing him that only boy seahorses could have babies, not girls like people.

"So," Josiah continued, "Do you have a girlfriend, Noah?"

"Dad," Rachel warned as Noah choked on his food, glaring at her father and gripping her fork so tightly Josiah was sure it would snap in two.

"What? I'm just making conversation!" Josiah held his hands up in surrender.

"It's fine." Noah said, finally recovering after taking a large gulp of water from his glass. "Um, no sir, I don't have a girlfriend right now. I'm not really looking for one either, I kind of have a lot going on right now."

"I see. Glee Club and football take a great deal of your time, I imagine."

"Well, football just ended but basketball starts next month. And I'm looking for a job, too. I did pool cleaning for a while, but seeing as it's getting colder and we don't exactly live in California, I need to find another way to make some decent money." Noah explained.

"That's great!" Seth praised him, finally piping into the conversation. "I really admire that, son."

Noah nodded, unsure how to respond to the term of endearment. His own father, whom he saw once a year if he was lucky, didn't really call him anything, much less anything as affectionate as "son." Calling him son would mean acknowledging Noah as his child, and Lord knew that that was a huge faux pas for Shane Puckerman.

"I think it's very admirable for you to _want_ a job, Noah, but I'm curious;" Josiah cleared his throat, ignoring the look that Rachel gave him from across the table. "What does a young man like you _need_ a job for?"

"Dad!" Rachel interrupted, giving Noah a few minutes to formulate an answer. He now knew that her parents knew nothing about him getting Quinn Fabray pregnant, and judging from Rachel's behavior, it probably wasn't a good idea to let them know. "Don't you think you're being a tad invasive of Noah's privacy? For goodness sakes, you've only known him for a little more than 24 hours!"

"I helped my mom out as much as I could with my pool money," Noah said, hoping to ease the tension at the table caused by the question. "But it wasn't a lot and she wouldn't let me give as much as I could have. I'd be able to help her a lot more if I could get an actual job. She always does ok by herself, but I hate seeing her do without so we can have nice stuff."

Josiah and Seth let out a unified "awe" at Noah's confession, and it was clear by the expression on Rachel's face that she was also quite shocked.

"Mama's boy!" Anna coughed into her hand, giggling at her brother's glare.

"There's nothing wrong with that, Anna!" Rachel said as if the statement had been a personal attack on her. Noah looked at her and smirked to himself when he saw that look on her face, the same look from earlier that day; as if he'd hung the stars.

"If you mention this to anyone as school, B-Rachel," Noah warned, forcing the smile that played at the corners of his mouth down into a frown. "I will find out, and you will be sorry."

Rachel merely nodded, ignoring that nagging voice in the back of her head that told her now would be an appropriate time to laugh in his face for being a "mama's boy". Not that she found anything particularly funny about it, she actually thought it was quite charming and endearing, and she truly felt special for being one of very few people he shared this part of himself with. But, the voice was telling her that friends could laugh about something like this without worrying about hurting anyone's feelings, so when she felt the giggle creep into the back of her throat again, she didn't even attempt to suppress it. She could tell in the week that they dated that he truly loved and respected his mother, but he'd never let on much more than that. Had he been a different jock, she would have just assumed the story about helping out his mother was a cover-up for the fact that he needed to help pay Quinn's bills, but he was Noah and she knew that if you wanted him to let his guard down, you simply had to get him to talk about his mother and sister. Again, she felt very special to be one of few who knew this about him.

"You laugh now, but I am the master of revenge." Noah promised, a full-on smirk playing across his lips as he pointed his fork at her.

"Do you have dolls, Rachel?" Anna asked.

"Only one," Rachel answered, a look of sadness taking over her face for a moment. "Why do you ask?"

"Because Noah's not lying about being the master of revenge; he once lit my doll's hair on fire when I took a pair of scissors to his guitar strings." Anna shot her brother a dirty look when she saw him smiling at the memory. Rachel thought there must have been much more to the story than was being told, but didn't question it. "I'm just saying, Rachel: don't let that doll out of your sight."

Rachel bit her lip to hold in her laughter and shook her head.

"Don't worry, Anna, she would murder your brother if he came anywhere near Emily with anything that could bring her any harm." Josiah said reassuringly.

"I wonder, Anna," Seth added. "Why would you cut the strings on your brother's guitar? It seems that he cares a great deal about it, why would you want to purposefully damage it?"

"Because she's a total brat." Noah spoke up, cutting Anna off before she could tell her side of the story. Thankfully, she didn't get a chance to tell it anyway because just then his phone began to ring.

'_Take me down to the Paradise City where the grass is green and the girls are pretty…'_

"Sorry, it's my mom." Noah apologized, mentally kicking himself for not silencing his phone before hand.

Josiah and Seth waved him away, silently giving him permission to answer his phone. He turned the volume down as he stepped out of the dining room and putting the phone to his ear.

"Yeah, Mom?" he answered quietly, watching from the living room as Anna was undoubtedly telling them what he had done to deserve getting his guitar damaged.

"I have to cover for Louise tonight, so I won't be home until after you two go to school tomorrow. Can you please make sure Anna goes to bed _before _midnight?" His mother, Jennifer, asked, clearly tired from her long hours already spent at the hospital.

"I can't help it if she insists on being awake when you get home, Mom." Noah replied, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. Anna was always hardest to deal with when their mom didn't come home at night. "Yeah, I'll make sure she gets to bed early."

"Thank you, Noah. What are you two doing for dinner tonight?"

"We're at my friend's house." He said quickly, silently praying that she wouldn't ask which friend.

"Which friend, Noah?" _Of_ _course._

"Um, just a friend from a Glee." He said, hoping that would suffice her. He knew almost immediately that mentioning Glee had been a mistake though; he could practically hear the gears in her head kicking into overdrive.

"A certain _female_ friend? A certain _Jewish_ female friend that you allowed to break up with you a couple months ago?" Jennifer asked hopefully; his silence told her all that she needed to know to be satisfied. "Oh, Noah! This is wonderful! I knew you two would come to your senses!"

"Mom! It's not like that, ok?" Noah nearly shouted, glancing into the dining room and seeing three pairs of eyes glued to him; Rachel seemed very oddly interested in her food. He mouthed a 'sorry' before turning his attention back to the phone and continuing to speak in a tone low enough that the others wouldn't hear him. "Rachel's just a friend, ok? And she's pretty much the only person that's speaking to me right now, and her dads insisted that I come tonight."

"What about Finn? And Matt and Mike?" Damn. He had forgotten he hadn't dropped the bomb on her yet.

"They're mad at me." Noah racked his brain trying to come up with a quick answer that wasn't really a lie, but wouldn't give away his situation before he had a job to help and put her in a better mood. Somehow he thought that if it were Rachel having his baby, telling his mother she was going to have a granddaughter before she was even forty years old wouldn't be nearly this hard. Not that he would ever want Rachel to have his baby; she was just a hot Jew and there was no way his mother could be angry with him for giving her a hot, Jewish grandchild. "I kinda screwed up, but can we just talk about it later? Rachel and her dads are waiting for me."

"Oh! Of course, honey. Give Anna a kiss for me and tell her I'm sorry for not being able to be home tonight. And Noah?"

"Yeah, Ma?" Noah said, already knowing what was about to happen.

"Do not screw things up with this girl again."

"Ok, Ma. Got it, bye." Noah rolled his eyes but couldn't help the smile on his face.

"Love you, baby."

"Love you, too." He hung up the phone and walked back into the dining room, where all four pairs of eyes were now watching him intently. "Mom's gotta work double shift, so no staying up past ten for you tonight."

"Ok." Anna didn't argue, just turned back to her plate and ate the rest of her chicken in silence. Noting the looks that the Misters Berry were giving him, Noah decided it might be best if he did the same. He was certain they'd heard part of his conversation and if Rachel was any reflection of her fathers, he knew they'd been able to figure out what his mother was saying about the two of them.

Several minutes passed before Seth finally broke the silence.

"Where does your mother work, Noah?"

"Lima General Hospital. She usually works the three to eleven shift, but one of her co-workers called in sick so she's covering for her. It sucks, but that means she'll get tomorrow off." Noah shrugged, as if this were a fairly normal occurrence in their home. "Anna's just upset because she always stays up to say goodnight to her."

"Oh." Was all Seth could think to say in response. Anna still sat silently, picking at the tiny bits of chicken left on her plate.

"May I be excused?" She finally squeaked, not waiting for a reply from either of Rachel's dads before getting up and heading down the hall to find a restroom. Rachel watched sadly as she found the room she was looking for and slammed the door behind her.

"She's fine." Noah said before any of them could even ask. "She's just had this fear since she was three that my mom will go to work one day and just not come home. That's what our dad did. Not that she'll ever remember that, but when she asked about him my mom didn't want to lie to her, or tell her the truth, so she told her that he went to work one day and never came home."

Josiah reached over and patted Noah on the shoulder. He hadn't said it, but it was clear that talking about his father wasn't something he did with ease.

"Oh, Noah." Rachel reached across the table and grabbed his hand before she could even register the motion. When he didn't pull away, she figured it would create a more awkward scene for her pull her hand back than it would to just hold his hand and try to comfort him, so she did. He looked up at her and their eyes locked for a moment before they both looked away, very aware of their audience and the ideas that they must have been giving them.

"It's ok, really." Was all Noah said before finishing his food and then offering to take the dishes to the sink if everyone was finished eating.

"We'll just let you two talk then." Seth said, smiling wildly when he saw the blush creep into Rachel's cheeks. He and Josiah headed into the den while Rachel and Noah stood awkwardly across the table from each other, gathering up the dishes and taking them to the sink. As Noah began to fill the sink with warm water, Rachel placed a hand gently on his forearm and he stilled instantly.

"Really, Noah. I'm sorry about your father. That's an awful thing to have to go through. If you want to talk about it you can, you know."

"I know, but I don't." Noah said, reaching for the dish soap and pouring some into the sink as it continued to fill. "Are you going to help wash dishes or are you going to try to have a feelings talk? Because I gotta be honest, Berry, I don't think we're there yet. As friends, I mean."

"So you admit that we're friends, now?" Rachel beamed, completely ignoring his statement about not wanting to talk about feelings. That could be dealt with later.

"I guess. I mean, it's either be your friend or suffer alone." Noah shrugged, placing all of the plates into the sink and scrubbing each one carefully. "And, since I'm being honest and all, you're really not that bad when you tone down the crazy."

"Thank you." Rachel replied, taking each plate from him to dry when he was done. "I'm pretty sure there's a compliment hidden in that statement, but considering who I'm talking to I'm just going to take it for what it is and say 'thank you.'"

* * *

"Leave them alone, Joe." Seth chided from the couch. Josiah was hiding around the edge of the doorway to the den, trying to watch and listen in on Rachel and Noah's conversation without being seen.

"Seth, this was Rachel's first boyfriend! And he's here, in our house and she wasn't making him up! And they're washing the dishes together. If you're content to sit and watch SoapNet, good for you; I'll ensure their reunion on my own if I have to."

Seth rolled his eyes at his husband. Seth already liked Noah and didn't want to scare the boy off; the fact that Rachel finally had a friend, male or female, made her happy and that was all that mattered to him. Besides, she was still in love with that Finn boy.

"I can't believe you're just going to sit there while all of this is going on!" Josiah exclaimed. "Come look! She's touching his arm!"

"If you were in her position you would too, Joe."

"Look, he's smiling at her! And they're doing the dishes together! Seth, you have to get over here!"

"Joe, I'm not going to embarrass our daughter because you have the irrational mindset that she's going to engage in a romantic relationship with Noah. They've been there, done that. They're just friends now, friends can do dishes together."

"Yes, well, you're not watching them right now." Josiah replied. "They will make the most adorable newlyweds someday."

* * *

"That's wasn't G.N.R. earlier, who was it?" Rachel asked out of the blue as they dried the dishes together.

"What?" Noah stopped, looking at her completely confused.

"Your ringtone." Rachel responded, never taking her eyes from the glass she had in her hand. "It was playing 'Paradise City' but that wasn't Guns N Roses, who was it?"

"Oh." Noah looked back to his own glass, trying to think of a way to make his answer seem macho. "Carrie Underwood did a killer cover of it once, so I made it my ringtone. Her guitarist is no Slash, but it was still pretty badass."

"You think she's 'hot' don't you?" Rachel asked, emphasizing the word 'hot' with air quotes.

"Smokin." Noah laughed out loud. Maybe she really was psychic after all. He thought his story was pretty legit and believable and she saw right through it. Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted Joe watching them from the doorway and decided to humor the man. Drying his hand he gently placed it at the small of Rachel's back, causing her to jump slightly at the contact. "Don't look now but I think we have an audience." He whispered.

"My fathers were very pleased to hear you and I were on speaking terms again." Rachel whispered back, slowly looking up to meet his gaze. Try as she might, she couldn't ignore the shiver that went down her spine when she looked into his normally hazel eyes and saw that right then they were a very, very dark green with only a fleck or two of brown near his pupils. "I think Dad, especially, is thoroughly convinced that you're the Messiah."

"How do you know I'm not?" Noah wiggled his eyebrows as she scoffed.

"You are so narcissistic." She swatted her hand away from her back playfully, before turning to face him completely, her back to her father. Who was probably having a heart attack in the den at the moment. "Anna's been in the bathroom a while, should we check on her?"

"You can if you want, but she won't come out until it's time to go." Noah shrugged. "Usually she just locks herself in her room but obviously she doesn't have a room here. She just doesn't like anyone to see her cry."

"Poor thing." Rachel shook her head. "How, um, old was she when he left? If you don't mind me asking, anyway."

"She wasn't even born." Noah replied, avoiding her eyes. "I was almost nine, it was right after I met Finn actually. My mom was only four or five months pregnant when he left. When she was three she asked why she didn't have a dad and my mom told her what I told you and your dads earlier."

"That's so horrible." Rachel gasped, feeling tears springing into her eyes. "I can't believe a parent would do that. Just walk away from their son and unborn daughter."

"Yeah, well." Noah cleared his throat, willing his voice not to crack. "I'm not gonna put my daughter through that. Anna's never even met him and she hurts over him every day. I see him a couple times a year, but I hate him for doing this to her. I could never forgive myself if this baby had to go through that too."

"You're going to be an amazing father, Noah. I don't know if anyone's told you that in this whole… situation, but you are." She rubbed his arm gently from shoulder to elbow.

"Thanks, Rach." Noah smiled. It wasn't one of his usual smirks, but a genuine smile. "You totally suckered me into having a feelings talk. I hate you."

"You do not. Like you said, you'd rather be my friend than suffer alone so you can't hate me too much." When he rolled his eyes at her, she stuck her tongue out, causing him to laugh again. Rachel couldn't help but think that knowing she had made him feel better and laugh when this morning he'd looked so miserable, made her feel so much better about herself than any of the first place trophies and plaques filling the shelves and walls of the Berry household.

"Have you thought of any names yet?" She asked after a few moments of comfortable silence.

"Kinda, but Quinn's set on adoption, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high." He didn't look miserable, but Rachel did notice the forlornness that harbored in his eyes.

"She can't just give the baby away without your permission, you know." Rachel replied. "She's the mother, but you're the father and you have just as many rights as she does. If you're not in agreement with the adoption she can't give the baby away, it's not legal."

"Really?" Noah eyes lit up at this information and that Rachel just wanted to hug him in that moment. A strictly platonic hug, mind you. "So, if a couple just showed up at the hospital and I said no, they couldn't take her?"

"Nope." Rachel smiled at the hopefulness that had enveloped his features. "I know you don't want people to see this side of you Noah, but you're really not a bad guy. I honestly believe you could be a great father, even if you are still in high school. I'm trying to make amends with Quinn as well, so I'm not saying I'm on your side or hers, I'm just saying that I think you could make it work if that was really what you wanted."

"I do. I do want her." Noah nodded, looking down at his feet.

"Noah…"

"Hm?" Noah glanced up and saw Rachel looking at the doorway of the kitchen that led into the hallway. Following her gaze he saw Anna standing there, her jaw dropped.

"Noah's having a baby? With _Quinn_?"

**A/N: I got TWENTY reviews last chapter!!! Thanks guys!!! I had originally intended for dinner, Noah breaking the news to his mom, and some Rachel/Quinn, Quinn/Noah interaction all being in this chapter, but you guys have waited almost a WEEK for this. And I was doing so well about updating every other day. So, I've altered things and moved them around a bit.**

**Up Next: The Ultimate Showdown. Ok, maybe not ultimate, but Finn and Noah "face off". Noah tells his mother and attends his first ultrasound, and Anna makes a phone call. Also the Quinn/Rachel, Quinn/Noah, and (of course) Noah/Rachel interactions. I'm going back to typing that up as soon as this is posted, update possibly tomorrow.**

**Love & Rockets :]**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Glee and its characters belong to Ryan Murphy and Fox Network. I am neither, hence the disclaimer.**

For the second time in two weeks, Noah stood in his kitchen with cake ingredients scattered across the counters. It was almost like déjà vu, except this time Rachel was there. Rachel was measuring cups of flour and sugar, and Noah felt like it was the most natural thing in the world for her to be in his kitchen helping him bake an "I screwed up and I'm sorry but I'm going to take responsibility" cake for his mother. Anna had kept her promise to him and stayed quiet about the secret of his daughter with Quinn. Granted, Noah had had to beg (literally, on his knees, groveling kind of begging) her to promise not to tell, but he knew that he needed to be the one to inform his mother that he had screwed up his life at seventeen. She deserved to hear it from him and only him.

He poured the dry ingredients into the bowl in front of them when Rachel was done measuring and asked her to go into the fridge to get him a couple of eggs. Adding the milk he began to stir slowly, waiting for the eggs from Rachel.

"How old were you?" Rachel asked, causing Noah to turn in her direction to see what she was talking about. She was standing in front of the refrigerator holding an egg in each hand and staring at a picture that was stuck to the fridge with a magnet that Anna had made in class last week. Walking over to stand beside her, he grinned when he saw the picture.

A much younger Noah stood at the shore of a lake, dark curly hair sticking out in every direction, smiling brightly with a front tooth missing and holding a bass nearly matching him in length in the air. That had been his first fishing trip and the last good memory he had with his father.

"About seven or so, maybe a little older." Noah answered finally. He studied the pictured and decided that he was probably closer to nine when it had been taken, but didn't feel the need to give voice to that fact. "That was my first catch. Dad didn't think I could reel it in because it was so big."

"Anna looks a lot like you did at that age, if she had curly hair." Rachel commented as her eyes traveled over the fridge and spotted a picture of a younger Anna, maybe about three or four, in a leotard and tutu, a thirteen-year-old Noah at his bar mitzvah with his mother smiling and Anna pouting, nine-year-old Noah holding a newborn Anna and smiling down at her, and then finally settled on a picture of Noah, Anna and Jennifer at the Glee Club's Invitational three months ago; years of memories displayed before her on a kitchen appliance.

"I know. My entire family says the same thing and she hates it." Noah watched as her eyes searched the pictures and then stopped on the most recent picture. "You know, sometimes I wonder if she'll look like me, too. The baby, I mean."

"She'll be gorgeous if she does." Rachel blurted out, cursing in her head when she realized how that would sound to anyone, especially Noah. "Not that she wouldn't be just as beautiful if she ended up looking like Quinn, I just meant, you know, that Anna's a cute girl, and she was a very beautiful baby and -"

"Rach, I get it." Noah laughed, finally taking the eggs from her hands as she attempted to cover up for calling him gorgeous. Anyone with eyes could see that, even her dads, why should he expect her to think anything less of him. "You cut me off before I got to make the comment I wanted to anyway."

"Speaking of the baby…" Rachel started, smiling. "My fathers told me a rather humorous story this morning. The other night when you and Anna joined us for dinner, and we were talking about your own father and you wanting to be there for her, your daughter, and my dads were listening in on us…"

_Josiah watched as Noah placed a hand on Rachel's lower back and suppressed a laugh when she jumped slightly. He did an inner happy dance when he saw Noah lean down to whisper in her ear and could have done a backflip across the den when Rachel smiled and whispered back._

"_I just know they're going to get back together." He told Seth with conviction. Seth just rolled his eyes and flipped through television channels, glancing in his husband's direction before finally settling on SoapNet. "I mean, just look at them. I don't care about Finn, Rachel is definitely into this guy."_

_Though he couldn't hear what they were saying, Joe could see Noah wiggling his eyebrows at his daughter and whatever he had said caused Rachel's smile to widen before she turned her back to face Noah completely._

"_Damn it." Joe cursed quietly. "Now I can't try to read their lips."_

"_You're horrible at reading lips anyway, Joe."_

"_Shut up, or I'll cancel that SoapNet subscription." At that, Seth's eyes snapped from the TV to Josiah's and narrowed in a death glare to destroy all death glares._

"_I hate you."_

"_You love me." Their bantering was called to an immediate halt when they both heard what Noah had to say next._

"_I could never forgive myself if this baby had to go through that too."_

"_No!" Seth cried, covering his mouth so as not to alert his daughter and her guest of his outburst. He stood from the couch and rushed to Joe's side to listen. "Rachel's pregnant?!"_

"_I told you there was more to this Noah character than she was letting on!" Joe could feel the blood rushing to his face and boiling in his ears. If he had a mirror in front of him, he was certain there would be steam fuming from them._

"_Have you thought of any names yet?" they heard Rachel ask._

"_There will be NO names! Rachel cannot have this baby!" Seth hissed to Joe, who was frozen against the wall, shocked that Rachel was being so calm about the situation._

"_Kinda, but Quinn's set on adoption, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high."_

"_Quinn?" The Misters Berry whispered in unison._

"_She can't just give the baby away without your permission, you know." Rachel said. "She's the mother, but you're the father and you have just as many rights as she does. If you're not in agreement with the adoption she can't give the baby away, it's not legal."_

"_So, Rachel's not pregnant?" Joe said._

"_Thank Yahweh!" Seth said, glancing into the kitchen before returning to the couch. "I knew there was no way they were talking about Rachel. She's too smart to get knocked up at sixteen."_

"_Seth, we both know you were ready to go Jackie Chan on that boy for impregnating her."_

"_I was perfectly calm the entire time. You, on the other hand," Seth said, pointing a finger at Joe. "need to relax a little. Of course Rachel wouldn't be pregnant!"_

"_Whatever you say, Seth." Josiah knew arguing with his husband a moot point, so he just dropped it and joined him on the couch. Snatching the remote from Seth's hand, he switched to HBO where Forrest Gump was playing "We are NOT watching Days of Our Lives, sorry babe."_

Noah could not contain himself upon hearing Rachel's confession.

"No offense, Rach," he said betweens fits of laughter. "But me and you are never, ever having kids. Ever. We're friends and all, and you're actually really cool, but we aren't friends that fuck, sorry." He thought it might be best if he left out the fact that the promise of a hot Jewish grandchild would probably make his mother less angry tonight. No need to fill her head with these ideas.

"Noah, this may put you in a state shock, but not _every_ human being of the opposite sex wants to sleep with you."

"Ouch, Berry." Noah splayed his hand over his heart, feigning offense. "That really hurt my fucking feelings."

"Curse!" Anna shouted from the top of the stairs, but didn't come down.

"Do you really have to speak so vulgarly, Noah? Honestly?" Rachel asked.

"Honestly, yes I do." Noah replied smugly. How dare she question his badassness, yet again. "Are you gonna help me make this cake, or are we just going to have another feelings talk? Because I think those should be limited to twice a month. And at least two weeks apart. Our last talk was, like… twelve days ago, so you're not due for another one for two more days."

"Keeping track?" Rachel giggled. She was about to comment further when her phone began to ring.

'_Your eyes are the brightest of all the colors; I __don't wanna ever love another. You'll always be my thunder…'_

Noah snatched the phone from her hand to look at the caller ID: Finn.

"Seriously, Berry? Seriously?!" He raised his eyebrows at her choice of ringtone. "Does loverboy even know that's what plays when he calls you?"

"I'll be right back." She grabbed her phone from him and walked outside, glaring at Noah over her shoulder who just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Hello, Finn!" Rachel said into the phone brightly, her back to the house so that Noah wouldn't be able to read her lips.

"Hey, Rach." Finn said, and Rachel thought she could hear the smile in his voice. "Are you busy right now?"

"Well, actually, I'm at Noah's right now. We're baking." Rachel answered. Finn stayed quiet for a minute before finally replying.

"Why?"

"Why are we baking?" Rachel could already see where this conversation was heading. She and Finn always had a great time together, and she really enjoyed talking to him on the phone, unless Noah came up. She figured that if Noah were out of the picture she and Finn would probably be together right now. "Or why am I spending time with him? Because if we're going to have that fight again, Finn, I'm going to hang up the phone and go back inside."

"I just want to know what about him makes it so hard for you to say no to hanging out with him." Finn practically yelled, which left Rachel speechless. He'd gotten angry over the subject a few times, but he'd never really yelled at Rachel, just to her. "You know how I feel about you being around him."

"Why should it be any of your business?" Rachel spit out the first thing that came to mind. It felt good to fight back, so she continued. "You keep saying that you 'really, really like me' but you're in no hurry to do anything about it. If we're not dating there's no reason that I can't spend time with Noah and no reason for me to explain myself to you about it. He and I are friends, Finn. He's my only friend, and I'm not going to just stop speaking to and spending time with him because that's what you, my NOT-boyfriend, wants."

"I'm your friend, Rachel." Finn said bitterly. "I was your friend before Puck, and I will still be your friend after."

"When will you understand, Finn?" Rachel answered quietly. "I don't want to be just friends with you. I've settled for that before because you had Quinn and I'm not a homewrecker, but the two of you have been broken up for over a month already. I haven't tried to pursue a romantic relationship with you because I knew you would need time to heal but you constantly telling me you only want me to spend time with you, and then turning around and telling me that you're not ready to be in a real relationship with me is starting to wear on my nerves, Finn. I really, really, _really_ want to be with you, but I don't know how long I'm supposed to wait for you to want me, too."

"I never said I didn't want you." Finn was definitely yelling now. Rachel braced herself for whatever he was about to say. "All I ever said was that I didn't want you to hang around Puck. He ruined my life, Rachel. He hurt more than I've ever been hurt before, and you're supporting him? That's supposed to be _my_ baby, not his. She should be mine, and now she's not going to be. I was gonna try to convince Quinn to keep her so we could raise her together, but I'm glad she's forcing Puck into an adoption. He doesn't deserve her."

"You're angry, Finn." Rachel said calmly, not allowing Finn to know that he was hurting her, too. "And you're hurt. And I can understand why you want me to hate him, but I don't. And as much as I want to be your girlfriend, if that means I have to force someone out of my life then it's not worth it."

"But he is?" Rachel didn't know what to say to that, so she didn't say anything. "He's a jerk, Rachel. He doesn't know how to be just friends with a girl. He's not stupid, and you're hot. As soon as he gets what he wants from you he'll toss you aside like every other girl he's ever been involved with. He doesn't deserve you, Rach."

Rachel sighed, defeated. There was no way she was going to win this argument. He had his mind set and that was that. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. Can I call you later so that we can discuss this without it turning into a huge argument? Please?"

"Whatever. Bye." Finn didn't wait for her to respond before hanging up the phone.

Rachel inhaled and exhaled deeply three times, before looking back towards Noah's house. She could see Noah in the kitchen, putting the cake pan into the oven and felt guilty that she hadn't stayed to help. If she had simply ignored Finn's call the entire fight could have been avoided completely. Plastering on her best 'everything is fine, so don't ask' smile, she headed back into the house, closing the front door quietly behind her.

"So did he finally ask you out? Or is he still too chicken shit to make a move?" Noah asked, not once looking up at her as he cleaned up the dishes from making the cake and pulled out ingredients for to mix homemade icing.

"We had a fight." Rachel admitted quietly. She hadn't intended to tell him, but if she had learned that talking to Noah, even when she was sure he wasn't listening, always made her feel better. She'd never had anyone she could tell her secrets to, or talk to about feelings. Her fathers loved her unconditionally and were always prepared to listen, yes, but that didn't make it any less awkward to talk to them about these things. "About us."

"'Us' being… you and me?" Noah said, cocking an eyebrow at her questioningly. She nodded silently. "There is no you and me."

"I know that, Noah. But Finn hates it when I spend any time with you. He thinks I'm choosing your side over his." She explained, plopping down into a seat at the island and laying her head down on the granite, facing him. "Everything is fine until your name is brought up in the conversation."

"So you two must talk about me, like, a lot because all you two seem to do is fight."

"That is not true!" Rachel sat up quickly. "How would you know if we fight or not? And in any case, it's not your business what Finn and I talk about."

"I'm not trying to piss you off, Berry, I'm just saying that I see you two argue a lot." Noah stated calmly. "I'm not stalking you guys or anything, but you did say you'd talk to him for me, so when you two are talking I pay attention and what I say is true; you fight and argue all the damn time."

"Name one instance where you actually witnessed an altercation between Finn and myself, Noah. One." Rachel crossed her arms in front of her chest, sure she had just won. Surely Noah was bluffing.

"You really wanna go there?" Rachel arched her eyebrows, challenging him to continue. "Ok, yesterday, for example. I was on my way to your locker to ask you if you could help me think of a way to tell my mom about the baby when…"

"_Hey, Rachel." Finn leaned against the locker next to hers with his back to Noah. Whether Finn had actually spotted his ex-best friend before approachin__g Rachel was a mystery to Noah, but it wouldn't have surprised him if he was facing away on purpose. Not wanting to seem like he was eavesdropping, Noah ducked around the lockers and tilted his head back as if he were just watching the people walk by._

"_Hello, Finn." He heard Rachel say. She sounded a little too chipper in the morning, if you asked Noah._

"_So, it's Friday and I was wondering if you're doing anything after school. I really wanna try to work on something for glee, and I wanted to maybe run some ideas by you first. You're good at that kinda stuff." Finn said it all so fast that had Noah not been spending so much time around Rachel, he wouldn't have been able to keep up._

"_I'd love to help you rehearse, Finn." Noah felt his stomach tighten up in anger, the two of them had planned to hang out over the weekend for the first time. Anna had been begging him to invite Rachel over and his mother was dying to meet her, so she had agreed to Shabbat dinner that night. How could she just forget about their plans?_

"_But, unfortunately," she continued. Noah breathed a sigh of relief; she wasn't choosing Finn over him, for once. (Not that he was expecting her to choose him over Finn, but they __**had**__ made plans). "I already made plans with Noah to have Shabbat dinner at his house after Temple. Maybe tomorrow night? Or Sunday, perhaps?"_

"_But you can do that any other Friday night; I might not still have these ideas in my head by tomorrow." Finn replied, and Puck scoffed. Sometimes Finn's stupidity could be pretty damn funny. "Why can't you just tell him you'll have that Jewish dinner thing next week?"_

"_Why is it such a big deal, Finn?" Rachel slammed her locker shut and Noah knew that meant she was angry. She had slammed her locker shut at him three days ago when he used the word 'gay' to describe some song she was talking about. He never thought her not speaking to him for a day would suck as much as it did. "I've told you many, many times: Noah and I are friends. Just friends. I know it's hard to believe sometimes, but it's true. I enjoy being around him and he's done nothing whatsoever wrong towards me, and I refuse to choose sides in this whole predicament. He's sorry, truly, genuinely, sorry about what happened with Quinn, and he's hurting over this, too. You said you hoped to rekindle your relationship with him someday so you must see something good in him after all is said and done. Why does it bother you so much that I see it, too?"_

"_Why does he have to take everything away from me?" Noah rolled his eyes. He and Rachel were just friends, and she was actually pretty awesome when she wasn't at school. She was always telling him he could make something of himself, and that he'd be a good father when the baby was born, and she hadn't judged him like the rest of the school had. He heard a fist collide with a locker and his head whipped around the corner faster than lightning. If Finn laid a hand on Rachel, or had punched anywhere near her, a serious ass-kicking would be in order. But, Finn was gone, and Rachel stood there still as could be, fear drowning any trace of happiness from her face that had been evident in her a voice a mere three minutes ago. Noah could feel his blood boiling and the need to do serious bodily damage to someone surged through him. Scanning the halls, he saw The Jewfro heading in Rachel's direction, audio recorder in hand. Grabbing him by the collar of his polo, Noah pulled him into the corridor and slammed him into the wall._

"You assaulted Jacob Ben-Israel?!" Rachel shrieked so loud Noah had to momentarily cover his ears. "Noah! That is totally and completely barbaric!"

"I didn't hit him! I swear!" Noah shouted back, hands in the air. "I just abused the shit out of his electronic devices. He seriously needs to learn to back the fuck up, Rach."

"Whatever, Noah." Rachel crossed her arms again. "Why does it matter to you if Finn and I fight? You're starting to sound like him."

"Because you're fighting about me. Duh." The timer went off and Noah turned from her to retrieve the cake from the oven. Placing the round chocolate desert on the counter to cool, he looked back at Rachel ready to give her a piece of his mind about the whole ordeal. "And have I ever, in the past two weeks, told you that you can't hang out with him? Sure, I've actually really like having you around, but do whatever you want, Berry. Everyone knows you're just waiting for him to get the fuck over Quinn so you can get a shot at him. It does not bother me. And besides, do you really want to be with a guy who treats you this shitty before you're even dating? Seems that you two fight more than you get along these days, and that hitting the lockers next to your face thing? Not fucking cool, Rachel."

Rachel said nothing, just hung her head. The silence surrounding them stung like a fresh slap to the face and she couldn't think of any other way to deal with it than to just change the subject altogether. Fighting with Finn was something she could deal with, but hearing Noah say these things to her made her more uncomfortable than she thought possible. Not even his sexual comments and innuendos bothered her the way this argument had.

"I think Anna's calling me. I'll go check on her." She said, rushing out of the kitchen, avoiding his gaze. Noah tilted his head back and sighed. She was going to cry to his sister, who was going to be mad at him, and would probably be pissed enough to tell his mother the secret. He couldn't have that.

"Rachel…" He called after her softly. She halted, but didn't turn around. Noah had his second case of déjà vu that day. She had done the same thing when she had invited him over for dinner, and here she was at his house for dinner for the second day in a row, and he was doing the same thing; trying to make up for being a total jerk to her. "I'm not trying to upset you, ok? I just think someone should tell you the truth and no one else seems to care about you enough to do it. Again, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but you're always telling me I'm a better person than I am and you have all this faith in me and shit, and a better person would tell you when a guy is treating you badly. And that's what Finn is doing, he's treating you like shit because he knows no matter what he says or does you're gonna forgive him. Maybe, for once, you should try being mad and staying mad for a while. The only way he's going to stop being such a dick is if you let him know he's being a dick."

This time, Rachel didn't turn around. Instead, she headed straight for the stairs and went up to see Anna. Reaching for his phone, Noah scrolled through his contacts until he reached Rachel's number.

**Srry**** for being so blunt w.u but u ARE my friend and hes bein a douche and u dont deserve to be put through this bullshit when hes been pulling u around like a dog on a leash since before Q was pregnant. Ur better then that Rachel. **

Noah waited for what felt like eternity for her to reply. A minute passed by, then two and he thought maybe he had just lost the battle. She was probably laying her head in Anna's lap right now sobbing her heart out and Anna was most likely calling his mother and spilling the beans. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear Rachel re enter the kitchen.

"Your grammar is atrocious, Noah." She began, her eyes puffy and still looking wet, but her voice was even and she didn't actually look as upset as she had a few minutes prior. "And what you said did hurt my feelings, greatly, but I'm not angry with you. I figure the only reason it hurts so much to hear is because it's true. I think if you were saying it just for the sake of hurting me, I wouldn't feel as awful as I do because I would know you're lying, but you're not."

"Rachel…" Noah groaned slightly, walking across the kitchen and taking her into his arms, rubbing small circles at the small of her back as she sobbed into his chest. He hated to see girls cry, absolutely hated it. Usually he had no idea how to handle it, but whenever Anna needed to let the tears flow, holding her and telling her everything would be ok always seemed to help. "It's ok, Rach. Finn's an ass but he'll come around. Just… don't cry, ok? Please?"

"B-b-but, you're r-r-right, Noah!" Rachel sobbed, burying her face even further into his chest. "H-he's been u-u-using me all this time and I've just l-l-let him and now I look like a complete idiot! Why doesn't he w-w-want me?"

If Noah weren't a badass, he could have shed a tear then. And if he and Finn were on speaking terms, he would tell him to grow the hell up and get with Rachel before someone else did. A thought occurred to Noah just then: he and Finn weren't on speaking terms. He and Finn were no longer friends. Friends didn't choose chicks over their boys, but if Finn wasn't his friend, then Noah could certainly choose Rachel over Finn. She had been the only person to willingly listen to his side of the story and hadn't run away from him. He owed her this much for it. Smiling to himself, he promised to settle the Finchel problem once and for all come Monday morning, but now… Now he needed to find a way to calm Rachel down enough to help him decorate the cake so that he could break the news of Quinn's pregnancy to his mother.

"Rach, if Finn doesn't want you then he's a dumbass." Not that everyone else couldn't already see that. "Just let him know you're pissed off. When he realizes you're not going to forgive him every single time he treats you like dirt, the lights will go off and he'll grow a pair."

Rachel let out a soft laugh and Noah immediately felt his shoulders relax.

"Really, Noah." She said, sniffling as she pulled away from him. "A young man like you, who reads Jane Austen in his spare time, should learn to express himself more eloquently."

"And a young woman like you," Noah said, wiping away a tear with the pad of his thumb. "should stop trippin over Finn Hudson. The dude's a moron. I don't know how Quinn put up with him for so long."

"He was your best friend for eight years, Noah." Rachel reminded him.

"Yeah, well, he's not being much of a friend right now, to either of us." Noah didn't miss the slight upturn of the corner of her mouth. "And, sure, I deserve the cold shoulder, but you don't deserve this."

Rachel swallowed hard, finally raising her eyes to meet his.

"Thank you, Noah." She whispered. "I honestly can't fathom why you always insist on being so crass at school, but thank you for sharing this part of your life with me."

"You're the first person not to tell me that I ruined Quinn's life," Noah replied. "And the only person so far to tell me that I'll be a good dad. And you're a hot, talented, Jewish chick who's gonna help me drop the baby bomb on my mother. I can't exactly treat you like dirt after that, can I?"

Rachel smiled and shook her head 'no'. Glancing back into the kitchen where the abandoned icing ingredients lay scattered on the counter, she spotted his phone lighting up.

"I think you have a message, Noah." Rachel pointed towards the phone and Noah walked across the kitchen in two steps to check. "I'm going to check on your sister, she's been awfully quiet this afternoon."

Noah nodded as he read through the text he had received from Quinn in the last five minutes.

_**Thanks for the money, Puck. I appreciate it. I hope you get a call from wherever you've applied soon. I know its pretty cowardly not to invite you personally, but monday after school I have my second ultra-sound and I'd like you to go if you can. Shes yours too and I want you to be able to see her before she's gone. See you Monday. Q.**_

A lone tear made its way down his cheek as he read the message over and over again. The other two texts had just been the name and address of the doctor's office and a 'thanks again' for the money he'd given her. All that mattered to him in those three texts was the fact that he was going to finally see his little girl. And Quinn was letting him.

*~*

"Hello?" a small voice said into the phone as Anna held it to her ear. She had been hoping for a grown man, or even a woman, but this voice was that of a toddler. A toddler who probably shouldn't have been answering the phone.

"Um, hi. Is, uh, Shane Puckerman home?" Anna asked, smacking her own forehead for not hanging up immediately. It was too late to turn back now, and she could feel that this phone call had been a mistake. After meeting Rachel's dads last week and having dinner with them three times since, she had decided that she wanted to hear from her own father why he wasn't around. She was nearing eight-and-a-half and didn't know how long her mother expected her to buy the whole 'he went to work and never came home' story. So, she did some digging. In the attic, she had found two shoeboxes full of pictures of younger Noah and their Dad. Everyone was right when they said that she looked like her brother had at her age, but in these pictures Noah looked as if he had been cloned from the stranger looking back at her. When she found a paper with a phone number, she argued with herself for days before finally deciding that it had to be his and she had to call him.

"Daddy!" the little girl shouted on the other end of the phone line and Anna felt her heart drop. This girl was Shane's daughter, a daughter that he hadn't denied, and a daughter that he must have loved very much if she called him Daddy, and not Dad.

"Becca, what did I tell you about answering the phone?" A man's voice scolded the toddler before coming in clearly through the phone. "Hello?"

"Shane?" Anna practically squeaked.

"Um, yeah. Who is this?" the man sounded confused at the sound of an obviously very young girl asking for him on the phone.

"Anna." She drew in a deep breath before exhaling 'ready, set… go.' "Anna Puckerman, your daughter." When the line went silent for several minutes, Anna worried that he had hung up on her. "Daddy?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not your father. I think you have the wrong number, goodbye." Before Anna could formulate a response, the line went dead and he was gone. She had heard his voice for the first time, and he sounded exactly as she had always pictured he would. His voice was deep, and slightly raspy, but he spoke very clearly. His voice sounded like a voice one would want to listen to when you asked for advice, or stories of childhood adventures. And, though she had only heard him speak for a moment, Anna was sure that was where Noah had gotten his singing voice from.

And, now, she was sure of why her mother hadn't provided her with any information about the man: he was a big meanie. She wanted to cry, she wanted to lock the door and bawl into her pillow until her eyes dried up and popped out of her head, but try as she might not a single tear would form.

"Anna?" Rachel poked her head into the room quietly. "Are you alright? You've been up here for quite a while. Noah's about to start decorating the cake, if you'd like to come help." Noting the pained expression on the young girl's face, Rachel rushed to the bed and sat down beside her. "Anna, what's wrong? You can tell me anything, you know that, right?"

"Rachel, do you ever wish you knew your Mom?" she asked, looking to the floor to avoid Rachel's knowing eyes.

"Sometimes, yes." Rachel admitted, nodding her head slightly. "I love my dads more than anything in this world, but I admit there are times when I just wish I knew her. Even if only as a friend. Is this about your dad, Anna? You want to know him?"

"It's just not fair!" Anna suddenly jumped up from the bed, grabbing a stuffed bear from on top of her pillows and throwing him with as much force as she could muster across the room. "Noah got nine years with him! Nine years! I couldn't even get five minutes! He never wanted me and he never will. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!" she shrieked as she grabbed item after item and threw them one after the other across the room at the wall.

"Anna! Anna!" Rachel grabbed her arm gently, bringing it back down to her side to prevent her from throwing anything else. Pulling her close, she held her tight, mimicking Noah's actions from a few minutes prior. Having no siblings or close cousins, her experience with children was quite limited, but it had worked on her, why not on Anna? "If he doesn't want you, he's a dumbass."

"You said a curse." Anna giggled, wrapping her arms around Rachel's waist and returning the hug.

"Sorry." Rachel reached up and smoothed a hand over Anna's dark, straight hair. "But it's true, you know? You are an intelligent, beautiful, amazing girl and any man who doesn't want you for his daughter… well, then, that man doesn't deserve to be your father."

"I love you, Rachel." Anna whispered, squeezing her waist even tighter. Rachel stilled in her movements, pausing to consider what had just happened. The only people who had ever told her they loved her were family members, who were obligated to love her. Anna was the first unrelated person to say those words to her and she wanted to remember everything about that moment.

"I love you too, Anna."

*~*

"Noah! Anna! I'm home!" Jennifer Puckerman came into her house and hung her coat in the closet, immediately heading into the kitchen to look for her son.

"Anna's upstairs." Noah said, not taking his eyes off of the cake as he iced it with cream cheese icing, Jennifer's favorite. "So is Rachel." He added as an after thought.

"She is?" Jennifer's eyes lit up and she looked in the direction of the stairs, hesitating before deciding to stay in the kitchen and talk to her son. "She's such a lovely girl, Noah. Why won't you just try to work things out with her?"

"What is there to work out?" Noah asked, exasperated. Turning from his cake to face her, "There is nothing going on between us, Ma. She's in love with Finn. And he hates me, and she doesn't so we're friends because whether I like it or not, I need one."

"In love with Finn?" Jennifer asked, confused. "Isn't he still dating that Quinn girl?"

"Shit." Noah mumbled under his breath. Thankfully, as if by a higher calling, Rachel and Anna chose that exact moment to descend the stairs.

"Rachel!" Jennifer exclaimed, pretending to be shocked to see the girl in her home.

"Jen, hi!" Rachel hugged Noah's mother tightly, glancing at him over his mother's shoulder. He gave her a looked of sheer terror and she knew the moment was upon them. Better to cut to the chase, she supposed. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Rachel, just fine! How are you?"

"I'm great!" Rachel replied as enthusiastically as she possibly could. Jennifer was giving her a look that clearly said she wasn't buying that amount of happiness, but didn't question it. That is, until Rachel spoke again. "We made you a cake!"

As if for the first time in the five minutes she had been home, Jennifer's eyes landed on the cake. She looked from the cake, to Noah, to Rachel, to Anna a total of three times before finally speaking.

"What did you three do?"

"Well, _I_ didn't do anything." Anna said, stepping out of the kitchen and heading back towards the stairs. "Noah, on the other hand, has something very, very important to tell you." She was up the stairs faster than Noah could say 'traitor.'

"Well?" Jennifer crossed her arms, looking between the teenagers. Her annoyed expression turned thoughtful for a moment. "Are you two getting back together?"

"No!" Rachel answered before the question had even been asked completely. Noah tried to ignore the way his stomach clenched tight in response to the way she had so defensively answered the question, as if even the idea of getting back together with him was the most disgusting thought to ever cross her mind. "I'm sorry, but Noah and I are just friends."

"Oh." Jennifer's face fell. "Well, then what's going on?"

"Mom, can we just take the cake and sit in the living room and talk?" Noah said, and Jennifer closed her eyes and nodded, bracing herself for whatever conversation the three of them were about to have.

Once seated in the living room, Jennifer in the recliner and Rachel and Noah next to each other on the couch, an awkward silence drowned the room and Jennifer continued to eye the two of them suspiciously. The grandfather clock in the hallway ticked-tocked for seven minutes before Jennifer spoke again.

"Just tell me, Noah. Whatever it is, you can tell me. You know you can always come to me."

Noah looked at Rachel helplessly, and she nodded urging him to say what needed to be said. He knew it was now or never, if he didn't tell his mom now he would never have the balls to do it again and then what would he do when the baby got here.

"igotagirlpregnant."Noah mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Jennifer leaned forward, as if closing the distance between them would allow her to understand her son better.

"I said…" Noah inhaled and exhaled deeply before continuing. "I got a girl pregnant. And I'm sorry, Mom. I'm so sorry. It was a mistake, a huge mistake and I don't even know why I did it. I thought I liked her, I guess, and she wanted to feel better so I slept with her and then she was yelling at me telling what a huge mistake it was and I knew she was right and then a month later I find out she's pregnant with my kid and I wasn't going to say anything because she was trying to pass it off as Finn's and then Rachel found out and told him the truth and now everyone hates me, except Rachel, and I'm just… I'm so sorry."

Jennifer had tears forming in her eyes by the time Noah had finished his speech. She shook her head several times, looking anywhere in the room but at her son. Eighteen years ago she and his father had been giving her parents a similar speech and now here was Noah, making the same mistake.

"Who? Who is she?" She finally spat at him.

"Quinn…" He looked to his feet, ashamed of himself. "Quinn Fabray…"

"You and Quinn cheated on Finn?!" Jennifer stood from her chair immediately, glowering down at her son and a very terrified Rachel. "Finn? Your best friend for nearly ten years? Oh, Noah. How could you?"

"I don't know, Ma." Noah said, burying his face in his hands. "It was stupid. We were at a party and we were both pissed at Finn so I let her talk me into having sex with her. As soon as it was over, she left and told me it was the biggest mistake of her life and it probably was."

"Rachel, I think it's best if you went home now." Jennifer said, not bothering to look at her. "I'd hate for you to bare witness to the discussion my son and I are about to have."

"I'd be more than happy to leave, Jennifer." Rachel stood up quickly. "But, it seems Noah picked me up from my house so I can't really leave on my own."

"I'll take her." Noah jumped up, praying that his mother would give him the twenty minute drive to Rachel's house and fifteen minutes back (no, he did not abide speed limits if she wasn't in the car) to prepare himself for the hours of lectures he would receive upon returning.

"Just… just go." Jennifer said, not even bothering to put up a fight. "I can't do this right now, so just take Rachel home and lock the door when you come home."

"Ma…" Noah pleaded. He knew she would be upset, but he hadn't expected for her to be so disappointed that she didn't even want to stay awake to make sure he'd gotten home alright.

"No, Noah." Jennifer turned on her heal and pointed a threatening finger at him. "Do NOT 'Ma' me. Just take your friend home. We will discuss this tomorrow. Or the next day. Whenever I can look at you without wanting to cry my eyes out. Goodnight, Noah." She climbed the stairs two at a time and the two of them heard her bedroom door slam shut behind her.

"Noah…" Rachel whispered from beside him. He lowered his head but didn't look at her. "You can stay at my house, if you'd like. My dads won't mind, and I don't think it would be wise for you to be in the same vicinity as your mother until she has time to process what you've just told her."

Noah just nodded, reaching into his pocket and handing her his car keys.

"Wait in the car while I tell Anna that I'm leaving. I don't want her to worry."

Rachel nodded and went to the hall closet to retrieve their coats before heading out to the car. Shrugging into her own, she folded Noah's over her arms and closed the front door quietly behind her before unlocking the passenger door to the Camaro and sliding into her seat. From the sidewalk she could see into Anna's lit up bedroom window and watched as Noah hugged his sister and kissed her forehead before walking out of her room and turning down the hall towards his own room. A few moments later, he re-appeared in her doorway, duffel bag in hand, and big Anna goodbye before heading downstairs. Less than a minute later he was locking the front door, and then walking around the car and getting into the driver's seat.

He said nothing for several minutes, just rested his hands on the steering wheel and stared out ahead of him. Rachel fidgeted in her seat, unsure what she should do or say, if she should say anything at all. Not knowing what to say was driving her crazy, so instead of speaking she settled for reaching over and taking Noah's hand into her own, an action that was becoming somewhat of a habit for her in the past couple of weeks. He looked down at their now entwined hands and gave a smirk. Rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand, he considered how nice it felt to have her care enough to just hold his hand. He wasn't lying when he'd said she was a pretty cool person, but he knew now that he wouldn't be lying when he told Finn on Monday that she was also a really kickass friend, and that he'd better learn to appreciate her.

The drive to Rachel's house was silent, save for the quiet sounds of Billy Joel streaming from the car radio. When they pulled up, Noah noticed that there were no lights on, and her fathers' cars weren't in the driveway. Noting the concerned look on Noah's face, Rachel spoke up.

"Dad and Daddy have their cars inside the garage." She explained. "And they'll be at Temple for another half hour or so. We walk, since we only live a few blocks away."

"Ok." Noah nodded, reaching into the back seat and grabbing his duffel bag. "Are you sure they're going to be cool about this?"

"Noah, they love you." Rachel laughed at his insecurities. He'd been to her house at least three days time the week prior, and twice this week, and in those five encounters (six for Josiah) her fathers had fallen completely head-over-heels in love with Noah. "As long as you don't get me pregnant next, you're welcome here anytime you want."

Noah's smirk grew into a genuine smile at her attempt to make a joke. Granted, it was a very bad, not-very-given-the-circumstances kind of joke, but it did make him feel better.

"Like I said earlier, Berry," he said after a few moments. "Never. Gonna. Happen." He opened his door and walked around to Rachel's side of the car to open her door for her. Rachel beamed up at him as she stood, smoothing out her skirt before leading him to the front door. Unlocking the door, and pushing it open, Rachel flipped three switches, turning on the lights in the living room and hallway.

"The guest room is down the hall across from the bathroom." Rachel pointed down the hall towards the stairs. "You're welcome to put your things in there. I'm just going to order dinner. What would you like?"

"I'm not really that hungry, Rachel." Noah answered. "Whatever you want, I just want to sleep and forget to today ever happened."

"Noah, you have to eat something." Rachel argued, pulling out the Take-Out notebook from a drawer and leafing through the first few pages. "Chinese?"

"Sure, sounds good." Noah said as he turned away from her and walked down the hall towards the room. If it had been any other day, any other situation, he would have laughed and told her the story of his mother begging him to find a Jewish girlfriend while they ate Chinese food on Simchat Torah and watched "Schindler's List". But, he knew the only thing that would make him feel even a fraction of a percent better right now, was a good long nap. So that's exactly what he did.

*~*

Monday came faster than either Noah or Rachel expected. They spent the entirety or Sunday waiting for Jennifer to call him and say that she was ready to see him again, but the only phone call he received from home was Anna informing him that their mother had burst into tears for three hours the one time his name was mentioned. Upon hearing this news, Josiah and Seth had extended their invitation for him to stay as long as he wanted. He had packed enough clothes to last him until Monday, but knew that he would need to return home after Quinn's ultrasound to get more clothes.

Rachel and Noah walked into the front doors of the school side by side, earning them the stares of dozens of McKinley students as they walked by. Rachel chattered on and on about how truly great it was that Quinn had invited him to her second ultra sound. As if produced by the sheer thought of her, Noah spotted Quinn standing next to his locker, her eyes red and puffy and fresh tears stains on her cheeks. Glancing down, he saw that she had two suitcases with her. He nudged Rachel and nodded his head in Quinn's direction. Not waiting for him to make a move towards Quinn, Rachel rushed over and pulled the crying girl into her arms. Noah could literally feel his heart breaking as Quinn sobbed into Rachel's shoulder. As he approached he was able to catch a few of the words she was saying.

"And I can't stay there anymore and no one wants me around and I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" she sighed, stopping to catch her breath as she clung to Rachel's shirt for dear life. The two girls had interacted in Glee as necessary, but other than that Quinn pretty much kept to herself and Rachel avoided sitting with anyone (if she sat with Finn, she knew she would hurt Quinn Noah's feelings, if she sat with Noah it would upset Finn.), but seeing Quinn opening up to Rachel the way she was made Noah realize that she really wasn't the mega-bitch she made herself out to be most of the time.

"You can stay with us, Quinn." Rachel blurted out, and Noah fought with himself to not smack his forehead. "I mean me, of course. Noah's mother just found out and she's not really speaking to him so he's staying with us as well. But you can share my room until he returns home."

"Rachel, I can't-"

"No arguing, Quinn." Rachel cut her off, pulling away to look her in the face. "I know you and I haven't exactly been on speaking terms since the whole 'babygate' incident, but I hope we can be friends. I've heard what the others and people around school have said about you, and I don't think anyone deserves to be treated so poorly. If you don't mind, I really would like to offer you our spare bedroom. It's my fault that you got kicked out of Finn's house in the first place."

"No." Quinn shook her head, staring at the floor. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have done what I did, and then lied about it. It was killing me to lie to him, but I should have told him the truth. It hurts, but it's a little freeing that it's all out in the open. I feel so liberated. I don't have to hide anymore. I just can't seem to find a place to stay."

"Well, now you have." Noah finally spoke up, causing the girls to jerk their heads in his direction. "Please, Quinn, just take Rachel up on her offer. She won't ease up on the crazy until you do. And she's really not that bad when she's not at school."

Quinn giggled as Rachel slapped Noah on the chest at his statement. The two were total opposites, but made the absolute cutest… whatever they were, Quinn decided. They were bantering on and on when Quinn felt the baby start to kick. She had felt small bits of movement before now, but her daughter was kicking with so much force, Quinn had to hold her stomach to ensure she hadn't imagined it. Noticing her hand dart to her belly, Noah turned to her.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Quinn looked at him warily, slowly reaching for his hand and placing it over her stomach where the baby had been kicking. When he felt the movement beneath his hand, his eyes grew large from shock, and smile spread across his lips, lighting up his entire face.

"She heard you talking." Quinn said simply. Rachel watched awkwardly, unsure if touching Quinn's stomach herself would be appropriate or not. "Do you wanna feel?"

Rachel nodded, placing a hand between Quinn and Noah's on Quinn's stomach. Her face mimicked Noah's reaction as she felt a strong kick against her palm. Unbeknownst to the three of them, they were all thinking the same thing that moment; how could someone so small make such big waves in the lives of so many people?

*~*

In the Glee that afternoon, Rachel sat between Quinn and Noah as the three of them discussed what would happen after rehearsal. Noah would drop Rachel and Quinn off at the Berry house so that Quinn could change and get settled before going to her appointment while he went home and packed clothes and his guitar and his xbox (per insistence of Seth) for the next week and to leave a note for Anna to call him to let him know how she was. Then, he would come home, pick up Quinn and go to the ultra sound.

Noah felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out, not recognizing the number he stepped out of the room to answer the call. As he was leaving, Rachel turned to Quinn with a serious expression on her face.

"I know it's not my place, Quinn." She began and Quinn leaned back in her chair, staring up to the ceiling to prepare for the lecture. "But, really, it means a lot to Noah that you're letting him go to this ultra sound. I know you want to give her up for adoption, and most of the time he just acts like he doesn't care either way, he really does love this baby."

"I know." Quinn looked at Rachel and smiled weakly. "So do I. I don't always act like it, because I think it'll be easier to give her away if I care less, but I really do love her. I'm doing this _for_ her. It would be selfish for me to keep her, as much as I want to."

"Okay." Rachel nodded. She wanted to tell her that Noah wouldn't believe that. That he felt it would be best for his daughter to be raised by her own parents, and if that meant he did it solo then he was willing to do just that. They were both going through a lot, and neither needed her butting into the situation again. They both looked up when Noah returned to the room, grinning.

"That's was the manager of Red Lobster. I have an interview tomorrow." He told them excitedly.

"Noah! That's wonderful!" Rachel jumped out of her seat and flung her arms around his neck. Shocked by her actions, Noah slowly placed his arms around her waist and returned her hug. Looking at Quinn over Rachel's shoulder, he saw her hiding her laughter behind her hand. When he gave her a questioning look, she just shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. It wasn't until other members of Glee began to file into the room that Rachel let go of him. Rachel blushed and returned to her seat, followed closely by Noah. He didn't miss the glare that Finn sent their way as he sat next to Santana in the back of the room.

"Alright!" Mr. Schuester clapped his hands together as he entered the room. "That performance you guys put together last week was fantastic. But, it's time for something new, something fresh. A couple of you," he gave pointed looks to Kurt and Rachel. "have asked me to consider adding some Disney to our repertoire. I've been doing some research and have found that some of the pop versions of the songs on DisneyMania compilations are much more modern and accessible. Today, we're going to be doing "Look Through My Eyes" from Brother Bear, as recorded by Everlife."

"Squee!" Kurt squealed, clapping his hands together furiously. "I love this cover!"

"I thought you would." Mr. Schuester said. "But, that's not the number I've selected for you, and I think you'll like your first solo a whole lot better. This one, I'd like to see Quinn and Rachel paired for the first verse, and Mercedes and Tina for the second. Alright, let's get started." He handed them their sheet music and the four girls walked to the microphones that had been set up for them.

*(normal – Rachel, **bold** – Quinn, bold/underlined – both, _italics –_ Mercedes, underlined – Tina, italics/underlined – both, bold/italic – all.)*

There are things in life you'll learn  
And in time you'll see  
**Cause out there somewhere  
It's all waiting  
If you keep believing**  
_**So don't run, don't hide  
**_**It will be all right**_**  
You'll see, Trust me**_  
**I'll be there** watching over you

**Just take a look through my eyes  
There's a better place  
somewhere out there****  
**_**Just take a look through my eyes  
Everything changes  
You'll be amazed what you'll find  
**_**If you look through my eyes**

_There will be times on this journey  
All you'll see is darkness_  
Out there somewhere daylight finds you  
If you keep believing

_So don't run, don't hide  
It will be all right_  
You'll see, Trust me  
I'll be there _watching over you_

_**Just take a look through my eyes  
**_There's a better place  
somewhere out there_**  
Just take a look through my eyes  
**Everything changes  
You'll be amazed what you'll find**  
If you look through my eyes**_

All the things that you can change  
**there's a meaning in everything**  
And you will find all you need  
_There's so much to understand_

Just take a look through my eyes  
_**There's a better place  
somewhere out there  
Just take a look through my eyes  
Everything changes  
You'll be amazed what you'll find**_  
_If you look through my eyes…_

When they had finished, Mr. Schuester applauded, followed shortly by the other eight members and the jazz band. Rachel smiled and Quinn and Quinn returned the gesture. Rachel then looked to Noah who just nodded; his usual smirk in place. When her eyes finally landed on Finn, he wasn't looking at her, but glowering at Noah. Her smile immediately faltered. Noah and told her that she needed to be angry and stay angry at him, otherwise he wouldn't think he'd done anything wrong and he had most certainly done some things wrong. She returned to her seat next to Noah and smiled at him again.

"That was fantastic, girls!" Mr. Schuester stood up and returned to his place facing the students. "What did you guys think?"

"It was pretty good, surprisingly." Kurt said.

"For a Disney song." Santana added, folding her arms and slouching in her chair.

"I liked it." Brittany smiled brightly until Santana nudged her and shook her head. "I mean… No I didn't."

The other members remained pretty positive about the performance, which Mr. Schue deemed enough to call the number a success.

"We'll work on some choreography for that a little more next week, as well as another Disney song." Kurt smiled brightly as Mr. Schue handed out the sheet music for 'Go The Distance'. "For Regionals we need five numbers, so for the other three numbers I'd like to hear some suggestions from all of you. I want each of you to come up with a few song ideas by our next rehearsal and then we'll have a vote for our next three numbers. How does that sound?"

The students nodded and gathered their things to leave. Finn was the first one out of the door, surprising even Schue with his speed. Before Rachel or Quinn could stop him, Noah was out of his seat and following Finn down the hall.

"Hudson!" Noah shouted, to no response. "Hudson! I'm talking to you!"

"Get away from me!" Finn finally yelled turning to face Noah. "You ruin everything. First you knock up my girlfriend and take my daughter away from me, then you convince Rachel to just completely ignore me. Leave me the hell alone, Puck! I hate you!"

"Yeah, well guess what?" Noah shouted, angrier than he had been two days ago. "I hate me most of the time, too, so that really doesn't bother me. You wanna be pissed off me? Be pissed off at me, I deserve it. But don't you dare talk to Rachel the way you did on Saturday! Or any other day you've spoken to her since she and I have been hanging out. What she does when you're not around is none of your damn business!"

"Don't act like you give a damn about her!" Finn stepped towards Noah, his hands balled into fists at his sides. "You never cared about her and the only reason you're being nice to her now is because everyone else finally sees what an asshole you are!"

"I'm being nice to her because she's the only person who's even listened to my side of the story!"

"Whatever. If you hurt her, I'll hurt you." Finn promised.

"Well, you've already hurt her, a zillion times." Noah countered. "Does that mean I'm entitled to pummel the shit out of you? Because believe me, I will not hesitate to do so."

Noah glared at his former best friend, struggling not to take a swing or two at him. He knew Rachel and Quinn were probably watching, and Rachel would be upset, and Quinn would just think he was immature and not capable of being a good father and he really didn't want to deal with the consequences of either.

"So what? Do you suddenly like her or something?" Finn spat, disgusted.

"She's my friend." Noah admitted, feeling his cheeks flush and the eyes of the other Gleeks wearing a hole into the back of his head. "She's my best friend, and I will seriously fuck you up if you keep pulling this shit with her, Hudson. I don't care how long you go not speaking to me, Rachel's off limits. And if I ever, ever see you get violent anywhere near her again, I will personally make your life hell for the rest of eternity."

He turned and walked back towards the glee kids who rushed back into the room to avoid the Wrath of Puck. He was seething when he walked up to Quinn and Rachel and grabbed the suitcases, walking straight past them to the doors of the school.

Rachel and Quinn scurried after him into the parking lot. As they watched him open the trunk and put Quinn's things in, she gestured for Rachel to say something to him. Rachel shrugged her shoulders, unsure what exactly Quinn thought she could do or say that would calm him down at this point.

"Get in." Noah finally said, holding the door open and folding the passenger seat for them. He was still red in the face with anger, and his fists were clenched tightly.

"Give me the keys." Rachel demanded, holding her hand out. "You are in no state to drive. Give me the keys."

"You're not driving my car." Noah said firmly, holding the keys too high for her to reach.

"If you want to go to this ultra sound, she is." Quinn said firmly, a hand over her belly to emphasize the weight of his decision to not listen to them. When he realized there was no way he could win this argument, he shrugged and handed the keys to Rachel. He climbed into the back seat and pulled it up right so that Quinn could sit down.

Rachel got into the driver's seat and adjusted the seat and mirrors before buckling her seatbelt and instructing her friends (plural!) to do the same. When everyone was ready, she pulled out of the parking space and drove to her house. The ride was silent, but when Rachel glanced back at Noah in the rearview mirror, she could see he had relaxed a bit and was breathing deeply. When she finally pulled into the driveway and put the car in park, Rachel stepped out of the car to let Noah out. As soon as his feet touched the concrete he snatched the keys from her hand and walked around to the car to help Quinn get out.

"I'll sleep in the den so you can have the guest room." He said as she stood and smoothed out her dress. "Don't even tell me no, I've been living with Rachel for two days, she may not be as crazy, but I really don't think you wanna share a room with her."

Rachel rolled her eyes but was glad that he had calmed down enough to crack one of his ridiculous jokes. He popped the trunk and pulled out Quinn's suitcases and led her to the front door, waiting for Rachel to let them in. Once inside, Quinn turned to Rachel and asked where the bathroom was.

"She's been tap dancing on my bladder since Glee." Quinn laughed. Rachel pointed down the hall and to the left, informing her that the guest room was directly across from it and that she and Noah were going to get her things in there so she could prepare for the doctor's appointment.

"Thanks for doing this, Rach." Noah said as they put the two suitcases on top of the bed, neither wanting to go through her things without her permission. "I didn't ask you to, and you really didn't have to, but thanks."

"It's what any decent person would have done." Rachel said simply, shrugging her shoulders. "Obviously Quinn's not surrounded by too many decent people. Besides, it's the least I could do for her after what I did,"

"Rachel." Noah protested. "We've both told you, the truth needed to come out. It hasn't been easy, sure, but I for one am so fucking happy you did what you did."

"And I'm happy you said something to Finn today." Rachel smiled at him shyly. "I appreciate you defending my honor, Noah. It was very sweet of you. In the most badass way, of course."

Noah let out a small laugh and felt the urge to hug her, but didn't.

"Well, I gotta go home and get some stuff. I'll be back after Quinn's appointment."

"Ok." Rachel nodded, grabbing the duffel bag he had originally brought with him and began to pick up his dirty clothes from the corner of the room, not eve noticing that there was no underwear to be found. "I'll just put your clothes in the wash so Quinn isn't left with your mess."

"Thanks. See ya tonight, Rach." Noah waved a goodbye and was out the front door just as Quinn came into the guest room.

"Thank you so much for this, Rachel." Quinn said quietly, opening a suitcase and digging through it to find jeans so that she wouldn't have to lift her dress at the appointment. Without so much as batting an eye Quinn stripped off her dress and attempted to pull the jeans on, stopping when she reached the zipper. "Dammit. I could button these last week."

"Would you like some yoga pants?" Rachel asked. "You and I probably wear close to the same size and they're quite stretchy. I'm sure they'll fit over your bump."

Quinn smiled and nodded, sending Rachel up the stairs to her room with a grin the literally reached from ear to ear as she searched for the pants to let Quinn borrow.

*~*

Noah tapped his foot impatiently at the obstetrician's office. He and Quinn had been twenty minutes early for their appointment and had been waiting for close to thirty minutes for her name to be called. Feeling his daughter kick and changed everything, but he knew seeing her would make everything seem a thousand times more real and he was eager to finally see his little girl. Rachel had asked him the night before if he had been thinking about names yet, and since then he had. He knew he wanted her to have a Jewish name with a cool meaning in Hebrew and was currently testing out several names in his head. He had already ruled out the common names; Hannah, Sarah, Elizabeth, Abigail. He wanted something a little cooler for his daughter, but nothing completely off the wall. Already that day he had tested out Amaris, Eden, and Delilah. None of them seem to fit. He wondered briefly if he should ask Quinn what she thought, even if she was set on adoption. He was testing out Norah Puckerman in his head when it registered that Quinn was standing up and holding out her hand to him. Taking her hand, he followed her into the examination room and helped her onto the table.

"Are you nervous?" she asked.

"A little." Noah admitted, sitting down in the seat next to the exam table. "To be honest though, I'm more scared than nervous. But I'm excited. I can't wait to see my little girl." He rested a hand gently over her stomach, admiring the bump. He felt her kick him again and he smiled.

"She likes hearing your voice." Quinn said, rubbing her belly. "If you're around and she hears you, she starts kicking like crazy."

"Do you ever think about keeping her?" Noah asked, quietly, staring at her stomach.

"Yes." Quinn choked. "I think about it all the time. I know you probably don't believe me, and you think I'm doing this to spite you, but I love this baby and I want what's best for her and I think what's best is for her to be raised by adults who can give her everything. Don't you want that for her?"

Noah removed his hand from her stomach and nodded. It's wasn't that he didn't want her to have everything, he did, but Noah knew first hand that a child didn't need everything to be well taken care of, or to know that they were loved, and he loved her more than anything or anyone.

The technician came in, greeting them both as she set up the sonogram machine. Quinn lifted her shirt and lowered the waistband of the yoga pants slightly, waiting for the technician to put the ice cold goop on her abdomen. In a matter of moments, the monitor lit up with images of a white silhouette of their daughter, her heartbeat ringing throughout the room clear and loud.

"There's her head." The technician pointed out. Noah recognized her profile immediately as his own, the Puckerman genes. "And here's her legs and her feet. See that blinking right there? That's her heartbeat, a good strong, healthy one at that."

"She looks like she's waving." Noah said, his eyes glued to the screen as his daughter's hand made a waving motion inside of Quinn's belly.

"She's saying 'hi daddy'!" The ultra sound technician laughed as she made measurements of the baby with the machine and then printed out the pictures for them. Noah felt his eyes fill with tears at someone referring to him as this tiny human's 'daddy'. He could hear her already, saying 'dada' before she said 'mama', wearing a little onsie that read 'I love Daddy'. He could see her clear as day with his face, and his curly dark hair, but Quinn's eyes and laugh. And he hoped, with every ounce of his being that she somehow got some of Rachel's personality.

'Wait…' he thought to himself. 'Rachel?' he swallowed the lump in his throat, not wanting to think about what factoring Rachel into the equation could mean. There was no way, no how that he feelings for Berry, right?

*~*

He spend the majority of the drive back to Rachel's convincing himself that she only came to mind because she had been a good friend to him, and had told him he could keep his daughter if it was what he wanted. She was the reason that he was going to fight for his little girl. But, when he arrived home and showed Rachel the ultra sound printouts, the only thing that he could think was that he hoped someday he got to see her look at her own ultrasound picture the way she was looking at the one in her hand of his little girl. He may not like it, but he definitely had feelings for Rachel. Who, of course, had feelings for Finn. Who hated him. What a tangled web they had weaved.

**I would just like to say that this chapter was bitch to finish. My life is a little crazy right now, and my appendix rupturing hadn't even been factored into the craziness, so for the next week or so finding extra time to write will be pretty difficult, but I'll make time to get at least one more update sometime this week. I'm not promising any particular day, because I honestly have no idea when it'll be. But, this is the LONGEST chapter I have ever written. It didn't seem so long as I was typing, but 26 pages/12k words later… And to think, I had originally planned to have several more flashbacks in this chapter! Sorry if there are a ton of mistakes, I'm pretty exhausted. Will go through in a couple days and edit wherever necessary and then replace the chapter. And also, I'm not good at doing the whole description of what the hell is going on while they're singing thing, but I've wanted Quinn and Rachel to sing that song together for a while and I'm going to try to do a little bit better for the next chapter.**

**Up Next: Does Rachel have feelings for Noah? Noah and Quinn meet a potential adoptive couple, Noah and Rachel discuss baby names, and Finn tries to win Rachel back. Not much Anna in this one, but the next one will have a pretty big chunk of her. As always, reviews are much appreciated! Special thanks to those who always review every chapter! You guys make my day when I see your names! **

**Love & Rockets :]**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Glee and its characters are owned by Ryan Murphy and Fox Network. I am neither, hence the disclaimer.**

**Not beta'd, so sorry if there are mistakes! I try my best to go through a few times and correct wherever I see necessary, but nobody's perfect!**

"So… you won't even think about it?" Noah leaned against the door frame, arms folded across his chest as he spoke to Quinn.

"No, Puck." Quinn huffed as she folded her laundry in the Berrys' laundry room. "I wish I could but I can't. Why don't you get that?"

"Because I don't get how a mother can just not want her child." Noah argued, growing more and more irritated with the fact that Quinn absolutely refused to consider keeping the baby. "What if you didn't even have to help? I could take care of her. I have a job now."

"Don't you dare tell me I don't want her! Look, Puck." Quinn sighed, folding a dress and placing it on top of the pile of her neatly folded clothes. "I will consider your option if you will consider mine. If I decide to keep her, she won't just be yours. I won't allow that to happen. But, can you please just meet these people first? Don't do it for me, do it for her."

Noah's jaw clenched. Quinn had made a habit of playing the "do it for your daughter" card every chance she got over the past five days. 'I'm craving ice cream, do it for your daughter', 'I'm too tired to get up and change DVD's, do it for your daughter', 'I can't reach my shoelaces, do it for your daughter'. For the most part, it had been for petty things like that, and it was always annoying as hell, but it worked. He knew that she knew he would do anything, _anything_, for that baby, even meet these stupid adoptive parents, so he nodded.

"Thank you, Puck." Quinn breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you got that job, too. It's really going to help. And, I'm sorry for being so hard on you about it before, I know you're trying." Gathering her clothes, she gave his arm a gentle squeeze before returning to her room and then going upstairs to speak with Rachel. Noah stepped further into the laundry room and began to load the washer with his own clothes. It was noon and Noah had to be at work by three, which meant his clothes needed to be washed and dried before then. His mother would absolutely kill him if she found out he was working before sundown on a Saturday, but weekends were the best days to work the night shift and he needed as much money and tips as he could get.

The doorbell rang and Noah turned on the machine before leaving to answer the door. Rachel's fathers had left for a conference for the weekend, leaving the three teenagers alone in the house. In the week of his absence, Noah had learned that his mother worked the daytime shift, so that Anna was never home alone or needing to be watched, which made Noah's heart hurt. He had been hoping to go home and watch her while his mom was at work, but now she had made it pretty clear that she didn't want to see him, even if it meant he would get to see Anna. He had spoken to her on the phone every night before she went to bed, but every time he asked to speak to their mother, Anna had simply told him she wasn't ready. It was because of this that Noah was in complete and utter shock when he opened the door and the young girl pounced into his arms, practically choking him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I missed you so much, Noah!" Anna squealed. "I promise to never, ever, ever tattle on you ever again if you come home with us!"

Noah could see his mother in the car, watching as Anna hung from her brother's neck. She smiled at him and gave a small wave before moving her hands to her lap and looking down at them, as if examining a hangnail.

"I have to work tonight, Sport." Noah said, lowering Anna to the ground slowly. "And besides, I don't think Mom's ready for me to come home yet. I mean, she won't even get out of the damn car."

"But she misses you." Anna replied, completely ignoring the fact that he had just said a curse. "You know Ma, she won't talk about it, but she does miss you. And she bought something for the baby."

"Really?" Noah looked from Anna to his mother, who was still acting completely fascinated with a hangnail that wasn't even there.

"Yep." Anna smiled, and Noah could see that in the week he'd gone without seeing her one of her front teeth had started to grow back in. "She didn't know if it was a boy or girl, so we didn't get any clothes for it, but she did buy a bassinet. And she put it in your room." Anna giggled at her brother's expression as his eyes went completely soft imagining his mother at Babies R Us, buying his daughter gifts.

"She didn't have to do that."

"She wanted to." Anna said simply, shrugging her shoulders. "She's just like you, she won't talk about it, but she does want you to come home. So, go out there and talk to her. I'm going to see Rachel."

Noah was across the lawn before he could remember that Quinn was up Rachel's room, and Anna wasn't stupid. She would know the second she heard Quinn's name and saw Quinn's bump that this was the infamous baby-mama. He pushed all thoughts of the inevitable chaos to the back of his mind as he slid into the passenger seat of his mother's car. She didn't acknowledge him, didn't even glance in his direction, and he knew that all he could do was wait for her to speak to him. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to wait as long as he had anticipated.

"I'm sorry, Noah." Jennifer said in a whisper. "I'm not happy with the situation, not one bit, but you're my son and I should have been more supportive than I was." She turned to him, tears in her eyes. "You know I love you, right? I would do anything for you and your sister? Even if that means accepting the fact that my oldest is about to be a father at seventeen. I wish it weren't happening this way, but it is and I'll support whatever decision you and Quinn make in regards to your child."

Noah said nothing, just reached across the center console and hugged his mother and cried with her. In the back of his mind, he was sure Quinn, Anna and Rachel were watching this Hallmark moment unfold from a window, but he couldn't bring himself to care. His mother was there, supporting him and loving him for being a complete screw up and he didn't care who saw him cry in her arms.

*~*

"Rachel!" Anna shouted down the second story hallway and she skipped to her door. Not bothering to knock, and in turn wait for an answer, she pushed the door open to announce her presence.

"Anna!" Rachel sprang from her bed to scoop the young girl into her arms, spinning her around before returning her to the ground and hugging her tightly. "I've missed you! How are you?"

"Good!" Anna bounced up and down excitedly. Having an older brother was usually pretty awesome, but Rachel as like the sister she always wanted and never had. And, if her father had his way, never would have either. "I'm going to be an auntie!"

Rachel glanced nervously at Quinn, who was sitting quietly on her bed, leaning against the headboard with her hand splayed over her stomach.

"So, your mother's not upset anymore?" Rachel asked, trying to change the subject without completely changing the subject.

"Oh, she's upset." Anna said, shaking her head. "She just misses Noah. So we came over here to bring him back home. She's working double shift tonight and I can't be home alone. But Noah said he has to work tonight, too."

"We can watch you." Quinn piped up from the bed. Anna turned to face her and Quinn saw Noah's reflection staring back at her. This little girl was beautiful, and Quinn briefly pondered her own daughter resembling her aunt. "I'm Quinn."

"THE Quinn?" Anna's jaw dropped as she gaped at Quinn's belly. "As in, you and my brother are having a baby, Quinn?!"

"That's me." Quinn said sadly, rubbing small circles over her abdomen. Anna eyed her suspiciously, glancing back and forth between Quinn's swollen stomach and her face, trying to decide if she liked her brother's choice in baby-mama.

"Can I touch it?" She asked warily, her eyes settling on her niece or nephew.

"It is a she." Quinn smiled as she repeated the words to Anna that she had said to Puck several weeks prior. "I think she hears you, because she's starting to kick. You can feel if you want."

Anna dived onto the bed and crawled across the mattress until she was sitting next to Quinn. She stared at her enlarged stomach and hovered her hand over it, excited but at the same time very nervous at the prospect of feeling her niece moving inside of Quinn's belly. Quinn smiled at her, noting the hesitation before gently guiding her hand just below her bellybutton, where the baby was kicking the hardest. Anna jumped slightly when she felt it the first time, and smiled when she realized how real the tiny human being had become, simply by moving. Lying down, she rested her head on Quinn's stomach and pressed a kiss against the area where she had felt her moving.

"I'm your Auntie Anna." She whispered, completely oblivious to the two teenage girls who were watching her every move. "When you're born, I'm gonna teach you to say 'Auntie' before you say 'Daddy'. We can NOT let him win, ok? So, just say Auntie first and then we'll win." Quinn giggled at this and Rachel smiled fondly, she had missed Anna over the week. "I love you. I can't wait to hold you, and kiss you, and hug you, and dress you and teach you to walk and teach you to throw spaghetti at my brother. We're going to have so much fun, little baby. I promise, I'm gonna be the best auntie ever, ever, ever!" Anna laid her head down and listened contently to the movement going on inside Quinn's womb. "I can hear her. I can't believe my brother's really gonna be a dad…"

"He's going to be an amazing dad." Rachel said quietly, her eyes flicking to Quinn briefly, ignoring the semi-glare the blonde was giving her. "Why don't you ask your mother if you can just stay the night here, Anna? We would love to have you over, I've missed you!"

"I missed you, too, Rachel!" Anna whispered, smiling from her position on the bed. Giving Quinn's stomach another gentle rub, she stood up and walked back out of the room. "I'm going to ask her right now, I'll be right back!"

She darted out of the room, Rachel smiling after her. When Rachel turned back around to face Quinn, the semi-glare was still plastered on her face. Rachel immediately felt guilty, she knew what was coming.

"Why did you have to say that?" Quinn asked, frustrated. "It's going to be hard enough to give her to complete strangers without you filling his mother and sister's heads with the idea that we're keeping her. I can't keep her. Just because you have a thing for Puck doesn't mean you get to help his family take care of MY daughter. I really appreciate you letting me live here and not judging my situation, but I don't think I can handle two more months of him and his mom and his sister all but begging me to keep her when I can't."

"I'm sorry, Quinn." Rachel mumbled, sitting down at her vanity. "I didn't mean to butt in, again, but I love Anna and she's going to be heartbroken when she realizes you have no intentions of keeping this baby. And so is Noah."

"I told him from the beginning that I was going to put her up for adoption." Quinn spat back. "This shouldn't come as a surprise to him. He shouldn't have even told his family. In just a couple months this will all be over and they're going to be left with nothing."

"She's his, too, Quinn." Rachel raised her voice. "I thought you were finally coming to terms with the fact that he is her parent, too. I know it's none of my business, and I won't ever mention it again, but you're killing him, Quinn."

Quinn huffed and got up from the bed, storming out of Rachel's room and slamming the door behind her. Rachel began to follow, but stopped just outside of her door, willing herself not to go any further.

"And I do NOT have a 'thing' for Noah!" She shouted before turning on her heel and going back into her bedroom. How dare Quinn insinuate that she had an ulterior motive for helping Noah. If Rachel had any romantic feelings for him, she certainly wouldn't be helping the mother of his child.

*!*

In the two hours that it took Anna to pack an overnight bag and return to Rachel's house, Quinn had emerged from her room once to use the restroom and refused to look in Rachel and Noah's direction. Noah just shook his head when she slammed her door shut again and smirked at Rachel, who had her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. He chuckled, causing her to shoot him a glare.

"Are you seriously not gonna tell me why you two are fighting?" Noah said, already knowing the answer he was going to receive.

"It's not important, I told you that Noah." Rachel replied, irritated. "And it's between Quinn and myself. If she chooses to tell you, that's her prerogative but I'm not in the mood to discuss it."

"Whatever, Berry." Noah leaned back on the couch and tried as casually as he could to drape his arm behind her on the back of the couch without making a huge scene about it. In the past few days, since he had had the revelation that he may in fact harbor feelings for Rachel, he'd been trying to subtly spend more time with her alone, without Quinn. And, when they were alone, he found himself getting physically closer, but no where near close enough. He would have his arm slung around her shoulders as they watched T.V., when what he wanted more than anything for her to lean into him and rest her head on his chest. Or they would be in the kitchen, doing the dishes or making dinner, and he would get the sudden urge to wrap his arms around her waist from behind, or pin her against the cabinets and kiss her senseless. But, because Noah wasn't a complete Neanderthal and didn't want to sufficiently freak her the fuck out, he settled for a less obvious approach. Rejection he could handle (hello, she dumped him), but a rejection when he was so obviously throwing himself at her? No, thanks. "So, Anna's coming over here?"

"Yes," Rachel's shoulders relaxed at the change in conversation. "I invited her to spend the night. It's only been a week and I already feel like I haven't seen her in months!"

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Noah nodded, smiling as he thought of being able to see his sister again after a week. "I never thought there'd be a day when I'd actually miss the little punk."

Rachel giggled and smiled at him warmly. She absolutely loved seeing this side of him. He didn't show it often, but had really opened up to her since his falling out with basically everyone in school, with the exception of herself and Quinn. She found a certain thrill in the thought that this was something she shared with Noah and no one else; he was someone different around her. Not even Quinn had gotten to see him completely vulnerable and exceptionally likeable the way Rachel had, and the thought alone set her body on fire.

"So you're going back home then?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah." Noah sighed, turning to face her with a serious expression on his face. "I gotta get out of this crazy house. I think I'm losing my mind."

It took Rachel a few moments to realize what he had just said, and when the lights finally went off in her mind, he was grinning at her wickedly and fighting back laughter. She grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and flung it at him with all the force she could muster. She burst into a fit of laughter at the look of total and utter shock on Noah's face. Rachel doubled over, holding her stomach as her giggle-fit intensified. Before she could brace herself, Noah took the pillow and hit her back, with much less force and in a more playful manner. Rachel sprang from the couch and grabbed a cushion from the loveseat and attacked again, determined to win the pseudo-pillow fight. The pair chased each other around the living room, flinging their weapons at each other, neither willing forfeit until the other admitted defeat. When Rachel finally managed to knock Noah's pillow from his hand, he tackled her to the couch and began to tickle her until she laughed so hard she couldn't breathe.

"Noah!" She gasped, dropping her pillow to grab hold of his hands, but he was relentless. "Pleeeeease!" As she wiggled beneath him on the couch, Noah found himself imagining them in a completely different situation, her saying those words with a whole new meaning and felt his jeans suddenly become quite uncomfortable. Not wanting to alert her to his… predicament, he slowed in his tickling and looked anywhere but at her, willing himself to think of anything but the fact that she was there, and he was there, and he wanted her. 'Shit, shit. Shit.'

"Is that the washer?" Noah said, pushing himself off of the couch, and headed towards the laundry room to check on his clothes. Rachel slowly sat up, running a hand through her now tousled hair to smooth it out. As she watched Noah dart into the laundry room, the realization of their physical closeness and awkward position came to her, and she felt a deep blush creeping into her cheeks and neck.

"I hope you know how to use a condom." Quinn said, startling Rachel.

"Excuse me?" Rachel asked, recovering from her mild fright. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, I see the way you two look at each other." Quinn walked around the couch and sat next to Rachel, looking her square in the eyes as she continued. "You may be in total and complete denial, but I can tell you and Puck are totally into each other-"

"Noah and I are just friends, Quinn. Nothing more"

"-and I just hope that if you get anything out of this whole screwed up situation, it's that shit happens." Quinn finished, causing Rachel's jaw to drop at Quinn's use of "the s-word." (a la celibacy club). "Yes, I know, I said shit. But it's true. Me being pregnant was hardly my plan for myself, but you're better than anyone in this town, you don't want to end up like me." Quinn stood and headed back towards her bedroom, leaving a stunned Rachel sitting on the couch, mouth agape. "And Rachel? If you tell anyone, and I mean anyone, that I said that; the bitch _will_ be back. In full-force."

*~*

Anna and Rachel sat on the couch in the living room, feet resting on the coffee table as they began their fifth consecutive Disney movie. Quinn had sat with them through Mulan, Sleeping Beauty, Pocahontas and The Little Mermaid, but when Anna chose Beauty and the Beast, she claimed that Spawn of Puck needed some rest and bid the two goodnight. Anna, Rachel noticed, was unusually quiet throughout the first half of the film, and by the time the opening notes to Something There began to play, Rachel's curiosity could contain itself no more.

"Is something on your mind, Anna?" Rachel asked. "You're awfully quiet tonight."

"Just thinking." Anna said, her eyes transfixed on the screen. "Belle's my favorite Princess."

"She's my favorite as well, but she's not really a princess, Anna." Rachel chuckled.

"Did she marry a prince?" Anna snapped her head in Rachel's direction and narrowed her eyes in a glare.

"Well, yes, she did but-"

"Exactly. A princess. Now let me finish this movie so I can tell you my theory." Anna returned her eyes to the screen and Rachel followed suit, almost afraid of what speaking again before the movie was over would cause Anna to do. Finally, as the credits rolled, but not before she finished listening to Peabo and Celine serenade each other with their rendition of the movie's title song, Rachel grabbed the remote and turned off the television.

"So, what's on your mind?" Rachel wasted no time beating around the bush. She knew something was up and was determined to get to the bottom of things.

"It's just…" Anna trailed off, trying to formulate the words. "She's like you, and he's like him."

"Wait… what?" Rachel cocked her head to the side, trying to piece together what the eight year old had just said. "Who's like me, and who's like him? And who's the 'him'?"

"When you figure it out, you're going to feel so dumb." Anna shook her head, smacking her palm to her forehead. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"You can tell me anything, Anna." Rachel replied, moving closer to the young girl on the couch, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her into a hug. "You know that don't you?"

"Yeah." Anna nodded, smiling. "Remember last week, when I asked if you wanted to know your mom?" Rachel nodded, urging her to continue. "Well, I kinda do know something about my dad…"

Rachel's eyes grew wide, searching Anna's face for answers.

"He has another family." Anna said quietly. "And another daughter who gets to call him Daddy and live with him and see him all the time and just know him. Why does she get all of that, and I can't even get him to say he misses me over the phone? Or that he would have liked to know me?" She was crying now and Rachel felt her own eyes stinging with unshed tears. Pulling Anna into a tighter embrace, she blinked furiously to prevent the salty liquid from spilling over. "He doesn't even care about me! And, and I don't want Noah to give away his baby! Because growing up without a dad when he's not even dead totally sucks!"

"Oh, Anna…" Rachel ran her fingers through her hair gently with one hand, and pulled her legs into her lap so that could cradle her with the other. "Shh. It's going to be ok. Your brothers loves his daughter, and he always will, no matter what decision he and Quinn make regarding her upbringing."

"B-b-but it's just not fair-r-r!" Anna sobbed, hanging onto Rachel's shirt with all the strength she could muster in her emotional state.

"I know, baby. I know." Rachel continued to stroke Anna's hair as she rocked the young girl gently until she fell asleep, at which point Rachel struggled to carry her upstairs to her bedroom. It was nearing midnight and she knew Noah would be home soon, and she would have to tell him about Anna's confession. Almost as if on cue, she heard Noah's Camaro pull into the driveway and tucked Anna into bed before heading downstairs to meet him at the door.

"Hey, Rach." Noah greeted her, shocked that she was still awake. "What are you doing up?"

"Anna and I had a Disney Princess marathon." Noah rolled his eyes. "Quinn bowed out early. And then Anna and I stayed up a little later to have a chat. I just put her to bed a moment ago."

"Chat about what?" noah asked, trying to suppress the yawn that he'd been fighting with the entire drive home (to Rachel's. whatever.).

"Your… father." Rachel admitted, looking down at her bare feet. When she glanced back up at Noah, his face was full of emotions; anger, confusion, hurt, concern. "She, um… called him last week."

"She what?!" Noah shouted, earning him a smack on the arm from Rachel.

"Shh! She and Quinn are asleep!" Rachel whispered. "Yeah, she told me he has a new family."

"I guess." Noah shrugged, clearly not liking where this conversation was heading.

"And I'm assuming you know about them." Rachel didn't sound angry, or annoyed, she was just making a statement and it made Noah relax immediately.

"I know he re-married and has two kids. Don't know they're names, ages, nothing. Don't wanna know. The one or two times I do see him a year, it's not about that. I hate him most of the time, yeah, but when it's just me and him, it's almost like none of the stuff back then ever happened. It's nice to not think about that for one day of the year."

Rachel gave him a small smile before nodding her understanding. Hating someone and being angry took a lot of energy and being able to just let the anger go for a while was a breath of fresh air. She herself was still waiting to be able to take that breath in regards to Finn, she hadn't spoken to him since the argument between he and Noah on Monday, and Rachel was actually starting to miss him. Not that she would ever tell Noah that. Noah would roll his eyes and tell her that Finn could go "fuck himself", and that wasn't really what she wanted to hear.

"Don't tell Anna I knew, please?" Noah said, pulling her from her thoughts. "She's already upset about me being gone for the past week, and Ma said she threw a hissy fit about the whole adoption thing; I don't want her to have this on her shoulders, too."

"Our little secret. I promise." Rachel gave him the smallest, quickest hug she could manage and bolted upstairs to her room. She could understand him not wanting to be angry with his father all the time, but not telling his own sister about the second family? Not telling_ her_ about the second family? That hurt. Rachel knew she wasn't in the situation, that Noah's relationship with his father was none of her business, really, but it stung that he hadn't thought to mention something of that importance. Pulling back the covers, she slid into her bed and stared at her ceiling until her eyes grew tired and she fell into a deep sleep.

*~*

The next morning, Rachel awoke to find that Anna wasn't in bed. Checking her alarm clock, she saw that it was only 7:30 and found it odd that Anna would be up so early. Rolling out of bed, she walked across the hall into the bathroom. As she finished washing her hands and reached for her toothbrush, she caught the faintest whiff of something being cooked, pancakes? Waffled? Something to that extent was being made downstairs, and the thought had Rachel's stomach growling, causing her to blush in spite of herself. After she brushed her teeth and washed her face, Rachel decided to forgo her usual morning workout in favor of the pancakes and/or waffles that were being made downstairs. Before heading downstairs, she returned to her room and made her bed quickly, and checked her hair in the mirror to ensure that it wasn't too untamed.

When she finally ascended the stairs, she found Anna, Quinn and Jennifer all sitting around the dining room table. Quinn had been careful to brush and straighten her hair and get dressed before coming into the kitchen, making Rachel second guess her decision to stay in her hot pink, star covered pajama bottoms and white tank top. Anna's hair was sticking in every which direction and Jennifer, who was still wearing her scrubs, ran her fingers through it in an attempt to make it look a little more decent.

"Good morning, Rachel!" Jennifer said when she spotted a suddenly very self-conscious Rachel. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did have a little trouble falling asleep." Rachel admitted, "But thankful had an otherwise deep and uninterrupted sleep last night, thank you. Did you come here straight from work? You look like you could use some sleep."

"Yeah, I did." Jennifer laughed slightly. "I knew Noah was going to bring Anna home, but I wanted to come by to personally invite Miss Quinn to dinner sometime this week."

"Oh." Rachel said, glancing at Quinn who wasn't smiling, just staring at her clasped hands on the tabletop. "Well, that's nice. You all certainly have a lot to discuss."

"Can Rachel come, too?" Anna asked hopefully. Rachel wished, hoped and prayed that Jennifer would say no. She was not prepared to sit in on _another _awkward Puckerman dinner conversation.

"Of course she can!" Jennifer replied, completely thrilled at the prospect of having Rachel over to her house again soon.

"Mom!" Noah stepped out of the kitchen, a plate of pancakes and a plate of waffles occupying both hands. "I don't think Rachel wants to be there for the conversation we're going to be having. And I don't think Anna should be there either."

"Hey!" Anna glared at her brother. "Why can't I be there?"

"How about we go do something that night, Anna?" Rachel piped up. "Maybe we could go roller skating? Or to the movies? Anything you like. If you're mother is ok with it, anyway."

"Can I go roller skating with Rachel?" Anna's eyes lit up excitedly, and smiled her still toothless smile. "I've never been roller skating. Can I please, please, please, PLEASE go Ma?"

"Well, I suppose." Jennifer finally answered, defeated. "But, Rachel, you owe me two dinners for this dinner missed."

"Of course, Jen." Rachel smiled. "I would love that."

"And I would love roller skating." Anna bounced in her seat. "What day are we going to go?"

Everyone laughed at her, the tension in the room easing up a bit as they each piled their plates high with waffles and pancakes and ate breakfast in a companionable silence. When everyone was finished, Rachel and Noah washed the dishes together as usual, earning a hopeful stare from Jennifer before she left to get some sleep, taking Anna with her. After the Puckerman's had left, Quinn joined the two in the kitchen and asked if there was anything she could do to help.

"No, Quinn, we've got this, but thank you for offering." Rachel had said, waving her away with a soapy hand. Quinn rolled her eyes, but went into the living room and turned on the T.V. and turned it to MTV. Ironically, the show playing was '16 & Pregnant', and though she knew it would hurt her to watch, Quinn was transfixed.

"I should make her watch that show more often." Noah whispered to Rachel, nodding towards the living room. "Maybe it'll help sway her decision to just hand Norah away to strangers."

"Norah?" Rachel asked, shocked.

"Yeah," Noah smiled at her. "Quinn straight up refuses to even think of names with me. I've asked her a shitload of times this week, but she keeps saying she's not naming a baby she's not keeping. So, I named her."

"And you picked Norah?"

"Yeah. It's a Jewish name, so my mom will be happy. And it's not super common, so I know she's not going to run into a million Norahs a day. And it means "light", which she kind of his. She's the light at the end of the tunnel. It may be a struggle, trying to raise her is going to be the hardest thing I've ever done and I'm probably gonna screw up majorly at some point, but having her in my life is going to be worth it."

"That was such a beautiful metaphor, Noah." Rachel whispered as she finished rinsing the last of the dishes, handing them to him to dry. "I stand by what I've been saying, and I will continue to say it even if I'm the only person who thinks so, you're going to be an amazing father." Before she could stop herself, Rachel stood on her toes and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek, blushing furiously as she headed upstairs to finally shower and get dressed.

Glancing in Quinn's direction to ensure that she wasn't paying attention, he reached his hand up to his cheek where Rachel had kissed him and the burning he felt there was the most intense feeling he had ever felt. Towards a chick, anyway. Except for Norah. Noah decided then and there that being able to call his daughter by her name felt amazing. He couldn't always feel her, and could only see her when he watched the sonogram DVDs, but knowing her name made her just that much more real. He didn't care if he had to be a single dad, he _was _keeping his daughter, and she would have more love than he ever thought he could give a person.

Not wanting to face an awkward moment between Rachel and himself, he went into the den and grabbed his already packed bag, walking around to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. He headed back into the living room to let Quinn know he was going to head home so he could unpack and stuff before he went to work at 3. He heard footsteps coming down the staircase and dashed out the door as quickly and quietly as he could, throwing Quinn into a rage of laughter that had Rachel standing there baffled and confused.

*~*

When Noah didn't call her that afternoon or at all that night, she chalked it up to him having to work and told herself that there was no way her kiss had caused any awkwardness between the two of them. They were, after all, just friends. Her fathers came home just after midnight and were shocked, and a little disappointed, that in their absence Noah had returned to his own home, and told Rachel that he was welcome to stay with them anytime. Rachel did not miss the hint of "please date him again, sweetie" in their voices.

Monday and Tuesday, Rachel couldn't help but notice that she was seeing much less of Noah. He had only text her twice, both times to say that he was sorry for not being around, but he was now working Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday afternoons, and Sunday mornings, getting Fridays off for Shabbat and Tuesdays and Thursdays for Glee and basketball practices. "Paying for this kid kinda sucks, but you can't put a price on love." He had sent her. "Delete that last message now, Berry." He sent all of three seconds later, causing Rachel to smile. That day after school, Rachel stopped at her locker to put her things away before heading to Glee rehearsal, when she saw Finn approaching her in her peripheral. She contemplated acting as though she hadn't seen him, but his long legs carried him fast than her short ones could and he was at her side before she had even closed her locker.

"Hey, Rach." Finn said, smiling. "Can we talk?"

"Certainly, Finn." Rachel closed and her locker and looked up at him. "What about?"

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." Finn said, smiling like he'd just won the lottery.

"Sorry for…" Rachel prompted him to finish the sentence, hoping he would realize a simple 'sorry' was not going to cut it this time around.

"Sorry for…" Finn furrowed his brows as he attempted to follow what Rachel was saying. "I don't know, really. I just know you wanted me to apologize to you."

"You really don't think you did anything wrong?" Rachel cocked an eyebrow and Finn shrugged. "You really don't see how the way you've treated the past few weeks has been completely hurtful and just… wrong?"

"Not really. But I'm kinda hoping that when I ask you if you'd like to go out tomorrow night, you'll say yes anyway." Rachel opened her mouth to reply and then promptly shut it before she could say what was on the tip of her tongue. She thought for a few moments, considering the correct response to him just asking her out on a date.

"Why now? Why do you all of a sudden have an interest in dating me?"

"Well, the past week has kinda sucked, and I hear Puck's finally out of your house, so I figured now's my chance, you know?"

"What does Noah staying at my house have to do with you and I dating?" Rachel put her hands on her hips and began to tap her foot, losing her patience with Finn already. "He's not you, Finn. If you had asked me out he wouldn't have told me not to go."

"So… is that a yes or a no to our date tomorrow night?" Finn pondered out loud, completely oblivious to the fact that Rachel had just compared him to Noah in a pretty brutal way.

"It's an 'I'll think about it'." Rachel relaxed her shoulders a bit. "I've missed being your friend, Finn, even if that's not really what I want. But, this jealousy thing _has_ to stop."

"Ok." Finn shrugged again. "Whatever you want, Rach. I don't want to lose you, too."

Rachel smiled a genuine smile before flinging her arms around his neck. She was happy that he was finally coming around, really happy, but somehow the satisfaction she thought she'd feel when he finally apologized wasn't there. Nor were the butterflies she had felt whenever she saw him or heard his voice a mere two weeks prior. 'I'm just still a little mad, that's all', she reasoned with herself, loosening her grip on his neck and giving him another smile before turning around and practically skipping to Glee.

"Alright guys!" Mr. Schue clapped his hands as he walked into the choir room. "Any suggestions for the three non Disney-related songs?" No one raised their hands, just glanced around the room at each other. Inhaling and exhaling deeply, Noah finally stood up and grabbed his guitar.

"Seems like I'm the only one who ever does my homework for Glee." He said sarcastically as he faced the others, causing a few stifled laughs, a first since babygate. "I didn't rehearse with the band this time, it's just a song I know. And it's kinda old, but I think everyone in this room will agree; it's pretty much a classic for our generation." Giving Rachel a smirk, he began to strum the opening chords to a song she recognized as one of about three songs that seemed to be on every mix CD he owned.

_And I´d give up forever to touch you  
´Cause I know that you feel me somehow  
You´re the closest to heaven that I´ll ever be  
And I don´t wanna go home right now_

And all I can taste is this moment  
And all I can breathe is your life  
And sooner or later it´s over  
I just don´t wanna miss you tonight

He had kept his eyes on the strings of his guitar as he played, making no eye contact with any of the members of Glee, but as he approached the chorus, he looked up and locked stares with Rachel, hoping she could understand what he was trying to tell her the only way he knew how to properly express himself.

And I don´t want the world to see me  
´Cause I don´t think that they´d understand  
When everything´s made to be broken  
I just want you to know who I am

And you can´t fight the tears that ain´t coming  
Or the moments of truth in your lies  
When everything feels like the movies  
And you bleed just to know you´re alive.

And I don´t want the world to see me  
´Cause I don´t think that they´d understand  
When everything´s made to be broken  
I just want you to know who I am

_I just want you to know who I am_

_I just want you to know who I am_

_I just want you to know who I am…_

Rachel was the first one to burst into a round of applause, though she wasn't the only one clapping for very long. Noah had, yet another, sense of déjà vu as the club cheered for him and his song choice.

"That was wonderful, Noah!" Rachel squealed, standing up from her seat and joining him in front of the group. "I'm sure I speak for everyone in the room when I say that was simply amazing. And, with all of us doing some of the background vocals through the chorus and wherever necessary, I think the judges at Regionals will be utterly blown away."

"I think Rachel's pretty much said it all." Mr. Schue nodded, patting Noah on the shoulder. "Excellent choice. Anyone else want to throw out a suggestion?"

"Fame!" Kurt jumped up from his seat. "From the musical. Or the movie. Maybe the movie, just to be a bit more modern. Though, I haven't really prepared anything for my suggestion." The club voiced their approval, nodding and discussing possible costumes for the number.

"That's a very interesting suggestion, Kurt. Perhaps you and Brittany can work on some choreography before Thursday?" Kurt and Brittany clapped and nodded enthusiastically in their seats. "So, we have two Disney songs, an Alternative song, and a Broadway selection. Is there any other genre you guys think we should cover?"

"Country?" Noah suggested, earning wide-eyed stares from his peers. "What? Classic Rock, Alternative, Musicals, Pop, we've pretty much done it all but Country. It'd be different."

"We did that Carrie Underwood song." Quinn interrupted, speaking up voluntarily for the first time since the baby's paternity had been revealed.

"True, but I think Puck's onto something." Mr. Schue countered. "Most of the other glee clubs are going to be doing something a little more popular and more mainstream, and while recently country has become pretty popular, it's definitely not as mainstream as hip hop, pop, or alternative music. I think we'd stand out if we had a popular country song in our set list. I want you all to do some research and bring in suggestions for the country number by Thursday, we don't have long before Regionals and we need to work on choreography for all five numbers. Now, let's get started on Look Through My Eyes, from the top."

The rest of rehearsal was spent practicing harmonies and dance moves for the song. Though the four girls were lead, for the bridge and final chorus each was paired with a male partner to dance with. Quinn was paired with Kurt, Mercedes with Matt, Tina with Mike and Rachel with Noah. Finn hadn't seemed happy at first, but Schue reminded him quickly that Noah was, in fact, a better dancer than him, so he left it alone. Every time Noah touched her, brief as the contact may be, Rachel could feel electricity coursing through her body. Sure, she and Finn had chemistry, but it was nothing like this. Judging by the way Noah kept stealing glances at her throughout rehearsal, Rachel was near certain that he was feeling it too, and the thought had her mind reeling.

When practice finally came to a close, Quinn told Rachel she would meet her at the car, leaving her and Noah alone in the hallway. He leaned lazily against the lockers next to hers as she twisted her lock, pulled the door open and pulled out her trolley bag and a couple of textbooks.

"That really was a great solo attempt, Noah. I really enjoyed it." Rachel complimented him, causing him to smile smugly.

"Thanks." He said. "I, uh, thought the song was pretty symbolic and stuff."

"Oh?" Rachel felt something inside of her stir. What, exactly, she couldn't be sure, but she could feel her breath catching in her chest as he leaned closer to her and his hand rested gently on her hip.

"Yeah." He replied softly, turning her slightly so that she was facing him. His eyes darted to her lips for a split second and Rachel could feel the hairs on the back of her neck begin to stand on end and her forearms to break out into goose bumps. "I'm shit with words, Rachel, you know that and I pretty much despise every single feelings talk we've ever had, but I just…" He ran a hand through his Mohawk, trying to find the right thing to say to explain what he was feeling. Deciding that sometimes actions simply spoken louder than words, he gently grabbed Rachel's face into his hand and pulled her into him, kissing her softly on the lips.

Shocked, Rachel froze, unsure how to react. After a moment, she began to kiss him back, moving her lips slowly, nervously against his. She had kissed Finn twice. The first time had been amazing, until he left her crying. The second time resulted in him promising to leave Quinn, and then staying with her anyway. She had kissed Noah probably close to 50 times in their week of a relationship. And still, none of those kisses measured up to this one. He wasn't even attempting to shove his tongue down her throat (though to be honest, she most likely would not have objected). It was gentle and soft, tender and passionate, and Rachel could feel her knees giving out as she placed her shaking hands on his shoulders, slowly pushing him away to look him in the eyes.

"Finn asked me on a date tomorrow." She blurted out, without even thinking.

"Oh." Was all Noah could say in reponse. Rachel saw the hurt, anger and just plain irritated look that took over his features. His jaw tensed and he pushed himself off of the lockers, picking his guitar up off the floor before he headed down the hall towards the front doors.

"Noah!" Rachel called after him, but he kept walking as if he hadn't heard her. She _knew _he had heard her. Feeling the hot sting of fresh tears forming in her eyes, she slammed her locker shut, pressed her back to it and slid down until she was sitting on the floor with her legs bent up, her elbows propped on her knees and her face buried in her hands.

**I sincerely apologize for the two week delay. I've been moving into one house and out of three different houses (yes, I realize that's a bit confusing. Very, very long story). Last week was supposed to be my spring break but… Eh, didn't happen. And, to top everything off, my beloved Yorkie was stolen two nights ago. I wrote this chapter purely to get some stress off my chest, so I'm sorry if it seems a little… bleh. I feel like it's pretty bleh. I know there's a couple things missing, But, chapter 7 is already worked out in my head, and there will be more flashbacks. I promise I won't lie about what's "Up Next" from now on lol. I am determined to have chapters 7-10 up by this time next week! We can do it!!**

**EDIT: PLEASE KEEP MY NEPHEW, XAVIER, IN YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS. HE WAS BORN TODAY (4/6/10) 6.5 WEEKS PREMATURE AND SO FAR IS DOING WELL, BUT HE ONLY WEIGHS TWO POUNDS AND WILL BE IN THE NICU FOR SEVERAL WEEKS, AND UP TO 3 MONTHS. HE IS MY WORLD, I COULDN'T STAND THE THOUGHT OF SOMETHING GOING WRONG WITH HIM.**

**Up Next: The return of Shane Puckerman and his side of the story, Rachel and Quinn have a "feelings talk", Noah and Rachel avoid each other at all costs, and Anna kicks some major ass. Like, MAJOR. Go Anna. As well as flashbacks that include, but are not limited to, the meeting of adoptive parents, Quinn's dinner with Jennifer and Noah and Rachel's roller skating date with Anna.**

**Love & Rockets :]**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Glee and its characters are owned by Ryan Murphy and Fox Network. I am neither, hence the disclaimer.**

A week had passed since Rachel told Noah about her and Finn's potential date. She wasn't even entirely sure why she had told him. In her head it made perfect sense to tell him, but as soon as the words were out she knew she'd made a mistake. Noah wouldn't see it as her being honest, he would see it as her saying she didn't want him, she wanted Finn. And, given the hell she'd been through not speaking to him this week, she was about a thousand percent positive that that wasn't entirely true anymore.

For probably the hundredth time this week, Rachel picked up her phone and dialed Noah's number, hesitating slightly over the last digit before hovering her thumb over the dial button. She wanted to call him and explain everything, but as always she knew the words would escape her as soon as she heard his voice, so instead of hitting 'dial', she hit 'end call'. She pressed the phone to her forehead, telling herself the awkwardness and tension would be gone the moment she told Noah that she never went on her date with Finn, as long as she left out the fact that it was due to circumstance, not her turning him down. She pondered just going out with Finn to piss Noah off, but he was probably expecting her to do just that.

"It's time for a pow wow." Quinn burst into Rachel's room, tossing her phone to Rachel, who barely reacted in time to catch it. She noticed a text open on the screen, from Noah (Puck in Quinn's phone.)

_**Just cuz ur carryin my kid dont mean you gotta be an ice queen Q. I met ur stupid adoptive parents, why cant u think abt keeping Norah now? Hows Rachel?**_

"I am so sick of those words. Every single day since your fight he has asked me multiple times about you. WHY don't you just call him?"

"Why can't he call me? He's the one who walked away, not me." Rachel said defensively, completely unnerved by the fact that Quinn thought that she knew anything about the situation. Rachel had told her that she and Noah kissed, and then had a fight, completely omitting the fact that Finn had asked her out, and thus been the cause of the "fight".

"He already made his move." Quinn rolled her eyes and Rachel's naivety. "He kissed you, Rachel. He played you a song in Glee, again. Puck just doesn't do things like that if there's a chance he could be rejected. It's your turn. Do you like him?"

"I don't know." Rachel shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I think I might, but he's not exactly the kind of guy I ever hoped to develop feelings for."

"Well, you can't pick and choose who you fall for. Maybe it would be easier if you could, but life isn't supposed to be that easy." Quinn's phone buzzed in Rachel's hand, signaling a new text from Noah.

_**Has she even asked about me? I know she knows we talk. **_

Rachel handed the phone back to Quinn, who read the message and rolled her eyes again. "He obviously cares about you, why does it have to be so difficult?"

"Why are you pushing me onto him? I thought you liked him."

"Any feelings Puck and I may have felt for each other are out the window." Quinn replied bluntly. "I think he liked the idea of me, but he didn't really like me. And I don't think I ever liked him. In the past few weeks, I've seen a different side of him but I just don't feel that way about him."

"Then why did you do it?" Rachel mentally kicked herself. She had found herself saying things she didn't mean lately, and the look on Quinn's face said clearly that it wasn't her place to ask. When Quinn's eyes fell to the floor, shame washing over her face, Rachel worried that she might burst into tears.

"I wanted to hurt Finn the way he hurt me." Quinn seated herself at Rachel's vanity, her eyes attached to carpet. Rachel furrowed her brow in confusion. "He wasn't even hiding the fact that he had feelings for you, and one day I saw him leave the auditorium, and a few minutes later so did you. I was mad, and hurt, so I went to a party and Puck was there. He said it would take the edge off, so I drank a little and one thing led to another and here we are." Quinn placed a hand gently on her stomach for emphasis.

"I'm sorry, Quinn." Rachel said quietly, wringing her hands together awkwardly. "I never realized that my infatuation with Finn affected you that way. Truth be told, I always thought you were with him purely for the status of 'it' couple."

"Maybe in the beginning I was," Quinn admitted. "But I love him. And I'm not blaming you for this. Or Puck, for that matter, but you asked."

"Still, I'm sorry." Rachel stood from her bed and crossed her room to where Quinn sat in the vanity chair. "Just for the record, nothing ever happened between Finn and myself. We kissed twice, but both times he chose you over me. I think, no matter what he says, he will always choose you. He loves you, too. He wouldn't be as upset about this whole ordeal if he didn't." If Quinn caught on to the hurt in Rachel's voice as she said this, she didn't mention it.

After several minutes, the awkward silence filling the room was interrupted by the doorbell ringing, both girls caught completely off-guard. Remembering that it was Tuesday afternoon, Rachel realized that Anna was supposed to come over for another movie marathon. Praying silently that her brother had somehow managed to get from Glee to his house and back here before basketball practice, Rachel practically flew down the stairs to meet Anna.

Stopping just shy of the door, she drew in a deep breath before pulling the door open, revealing Anna alone on her doorstep.

"Anna, how did you get here?" Rachel stepped outside to glance at the sidewalk for either the Camaro or the Taurus. When she saw neither she returned her attention to Anna. "I don't see your mother's car anywhere."

"Noah dropped me off." Anna replied. "He said he was going to be late to whatever, so he just dropped me and left. Said your car was in the driveway and that I'd be ok."

"Oh." Rachel's face fell noticeably at the new piece of information, hurt that Noah wouldn't even stay within her vicinity long enough to make sure his sister wasn't left alone. Normally Noah did whatever was necessary to keep his sister safe and taken care of, but had she really upset him so much that he had to avoid her outside of school, too? "So, what do you want to watch tonight, Anna?"

"Well, I brought Enchanted, Annie and Hairspray, but I don't know if we can get through all of them before nine." Anna walked into the house and settled in on the couch, pulling the three DVD's from her backpack. "Do you think you can help me with my Language Arts homework while we watch?"

"Certainly, Anna." Rachel sat next to her young friend on the couch, taking the workbook page from her and looking at it intently. "Write a short essay describing the person you admire most, and why you admire them." She read out loud. "Ok, who do you want to write about?"

"Well, I was thinking my mom." Anna said, thinking the idea over in her head. "But, everyone admires their mom most, so then I thought Noah. But, lots of people have brothers, so I was thinking… maybe I'd write it about you?"

Rachel blinked rapidly, shocked by Anna's confession. "You admire me?"

"Yes." Anna shrugged, embarrassed slightly. "You're my best friend. You let me sing Disney songs with you even when I don't sound good, and you let me tell you secrets and I don't have to worry about you telling anyone,. And you give me advice when I need it, and you're nice to Quinn and Noah, even though they both used to be really, really mean to you."

Rachel was flattered; no one had ever said such kind things about her before, save for her parents. Noah had certainly turned over a new leaf in the past month, and Quinn could be the sweetest person, but something about hearing a child's point of view made everything Anna had said that much more genuine.

"Thank you, Anna." Rachel smoothed a hand over the girl's hair. "No one's ever said such kind things about me before."

"Noah does." Anna corrected her. "All the time."

"Rachel, do you think I could use your car? I'm out of-" Quinn entered the living room digging through her purse and didn't see Anna sitting on the couch until the girl cleared her throat. "Oh, Anna. Um… Hi."

"Hi, Quinn." Rachel nudged Anna with her elbow at the bitter tone she had greeted Quinn with. "How's my niece?"

"Fine." Quinn said shortly, averting her eyes towards Rachel again. "Would that be ok? I just want to go to the store really quick."

"You know where the keys are." Rachel smiled at Quinn and waited patiently as she retrieved the keys and left the two of them alone before speaking again. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said." Anna answered with an eye roll. "He always says nice things about you, even though you don't like him like he likes you."

"Of course I like him!" Rachel nearly shouted. Anna raised a brow at this, in a way similar to her own brother. Composing herself, Rachel continued. "We had a bit of a falling out recently, yes, but I do like your brother, Anna."

"Well, maybe you should tell him that because that's not what he says."

"What does he say?" Rachel was almost scared to find out the response, but her curiosity got the better of her; she had to know.

"He says you like Finn."

"I do. Or did. Honestly, I don't really know how I feel about him anymore." Rachel leaned back into the couch, thinking the whole situation over.

"But Quinn likes Finn." It wasn't a question. "And you like Noah. Noah definitely likes you, and Quinn doesn't like him. So why can't you just be Noah's girlfriend instead of Finn's? Then Quinn and Finn could be boyfriend-girlfriend again and everyone could get what they want."

"Anna." Rachel sighed, thinking what an amazing career Anna might have as a psychologist once she grew up a little and experienced the world a bit more. "It's a lot more complicated than that."

"But it doesn't have to be." Anna stood from the couch, picked up Enchanted and crossed the living room to put the disc into the DVD player.

*~*

Rachel spent the better part of the night thinking over what Anna had said. For an eight year old, she was actually quite insightful most of the time. They had spent the rest of their evening watching movies and doing homework together until Dad and Daddy arrived home with dinner. After dinner, Rachel took Anna home, thanking Yahweh above that Noah was still out doing whatever it was he was doing (she had learned that he was quitting basketball in order to watch her so that their mother could get some rest. She hoped, prayed, that he had chosen to stay in Glee because of her).

On Wednesday morning, she found herself lagging on her routine. Having stayed up most of the night trying to decide what to say to Noah, and what she should wear, she hadn't gotten her typical 8.2 hours of sleep. In seven years, not once had Rachel NOT gotten 8.2 hours of sleep, and she could feel the missing 3 hours taking a toll on her already. As she rolled out of bed, she made her way into her en suite bathroom, splashed cold water onto her face and then squeezed a drop of toothpaste onto her toothbrush and began to remove all morning breath and plaque from her mouth.

As the minty flavor filled her mouth, she could feel herself waking up a bit more. Once she felt satisfied that her mouth was clean and fresh, she returned to her bedroom to select an outfit and practice the speech she was planning to give Noah the instant she saw him at school. Flipping through the rows upon rows of skirts, she settled on a plaid, grey and purple plaid one and laid it out on her bed neatly. Returning to her closet, she pilfered through her sweaters to find the right one. Finally spying it, she pulled the black piece from her closet and laid it on top of the skirt on her bed. The black, three-quarter sleeve sweater and purple plaid skirt was the outfit she had been wearing the day she and Noah had originally began dating, and she hoped more than anything that it would do the trick the second time around.

Satisfied that her outfit was prepared and completely wrinkle free, Rachel returned to the bathroom and turned on the shower. As steam filled her en suite and seeped from under the door and into her bedroom, she slipped out of her pajamas and stepped into the stall, allowing the hot water to wash over and wake her up. Reaching for her shampoo bottle, Rachel squeezed a small amount into her head and then began to massage her scalp, lathering the shampoo into her hair. The scent of orchids, according to Noah, was "sexy as hell" and she needed all the help she could get. She rinsed the shampoo from her hair, then applied the conditioner. Allowing that to settle in her hair for a few moments, Rachel squeezed her shower gel into her hands and washed the rest of her body, excluding her face. After she had rinsed off her body and hair, she pulled a bottle of face cleanser and scrubbed her face vigorously.

Finally stepping out of the shower 20 minutes later, a towel around her body and her wet hair dripping over shoulders, Rachel checked her face in the mirror to ensure she had no blemishes and then continued into her room to get dressed. When she was dressed and had slipped into a pair of black knee socks, she slipped out of her room and down the stairs to wake Quinn.

"Quinn." Rachel said in a hushed voice, gently shaking Quinn's shoulder. Since the baby had started kicking and moving constantly, Quinn often had trouble sleeping as well, and often wouldn't get out of bed on her own. Rachel and her fathers took turns making sure Quinn was up with enough time in the morning to get ready for the school day. When Quinn finally stirred and sat up in bed, Rachel left to finish getting herself ready for school. She ran a brush through her hair, paying special attention to every tangle the conditioner hadn't taken care of. She blow dried her hair straight, and then curled the ends slightly. Deciding that Noah seemed to like her just fine when she wore very little makeup, she just applied face powder, a small amount of blush, and some mascara. She thought of lipgloss, but if things went the way she hoped they would, that would simply get in the way. Satisfied with her overall look, Rachel stared at herself in the mirror and prepared her speech.

"Noah, I would just like to say I'm sorry that you misinterpreted what I said when I mentioned Finn asking me out last week, but I assure it was a total and complete misunderstanding. I was only mentioning him at all because I wanted to tell you what I told Finn; that I would think about it. And, having thought about it, I most certainly wasn't going to go. In hindsight, I see that I could have approached the situation with a bit more tact, and easily could have said what I needed to say in a completely different way. I really hope that we can make it past this slight detour, because I'm almost entirely positive that I want you, not Finn. And I don't want to completely miss the opportunity to explore our new found feelings for each other."

This was the point at which Rachel hoped Noah would take initiative and kiss her like he had the last time they attempted a feelings talk, but if not, Rachel needed to be prepared to take action. Grabbing the carmex tube from the bathroom counter, she applied a thin layer to her lips and admired the way it gave the illusion of lip gloss without feeling like lip gloss. Staring at her reflection, she could see the hesitation and lack of confidence in her own eyes, and rushed to her room to write down everything that she had just said to the mirror. If by chance, and Rachel sensed there was a definite chance, she lost her nerve to speak to his face, she decided to simply slip the note into his locker. He couldn't, and she knew he wouldn't, walk away from that.

*~*

After Rachel had slipped the note into Noah's locker, she busied herself with her own while still keeping her eyes peeled for the sight of Noah. When she finally saw him open his locker and unfold his note, her pounded in her chest as his eyes scanned the paper. She could feel her chest cave in as a small smirk played at his lips. However, the smirk was gone as quickly as it had come and Noah closed his locker and headed to class. 'Still,' Rachel thought to herself. 'There was a smirk, that has to mean something."

Quinn lightly tapped the closed locker beside Rachel, pulling her attention away from Noah's abandoned space.

"So?" She asked, eyebrows raised. "How did it go? You're not covered in hickeys so I'm assuming he's still mad at you."

"I don't know yet Quinn." Rachel sighed. "I watched him read my note, so I know he knows how I feel. And he did give one of his signature smirks, so that hopefully means he will at least consider forgiving me for my idiocy, but he made no move to approach me, so I honestly don't know where I stand with him as of yet."

"Baby steps, Rach." Quinn said, patting her on the shoulder. "Baby steps." Rachel nodded as Quinn gave her a sympathetic smile before walking away to go to class. Rachel saw Finn approaching and thought, since Noah wasn't around, it would be best for her to just ends things now, clear the air, so that Noah could see that she meant what she wrote.

"Finn!" Rachel called as he walked down the hall in the opposite direction. "I think we need to talk."

"Ok, talk" Finn didn't look at her, and Rachel knew that he knew what was coming.

"I just…" Rachel thought for a moment, trying to decide the best way to say what she needed to say. Speaking without thinking was something of a habit for her, and she had hurt enough people with her word vomit. "I don't want to lead you on. I wanted us to work out, I really did. But, when you asked me on a date, I should have been so elated and ecstatic that anything you'd done to hurt me shouldn't have mattered. But, I faltered, I doubted, and for the first time since I met you I questioned my feelings for you. I have spent months wanting nothing more than your undying love and affections, but I think it was all based on a fantasy."

"So, you're saying you never liked me? At all?" Finn asked, confused, still refusing to meet her eyes.

"I wouldn't go as far as to say that, but I don't think I wanted to like you so much that I became a self fulfilling prophecy. You were the hot male lead, and I the stunning ingénue; it made sense. It was logically, and to me that was enough. But, I've been informed as of recent, that love isn't supposed to make sense or be logical."

"And you love Puck?" Finn stopped in the hall and turned to face her, and did nothing to hide the pained look on his face.

"I don't know." Rachel admitted. "But, and I don't say this to hurt you further, I do know that I feel different when I'm with him. I don't have to be a Broadway extraordinaire, or the star of glee club; I don't have to be the girl everyone thinks is positively insane, or a perfect, well-spoken, intelligent individual. With Noah, I can just be Rachel. And I've never felt that before. I want us to still be friends, Finn, but I'm not ready to give him up yet."

"Whatever." Finn shook his head, and it was clear that he had gone from hurt to angry in two seconds flat. "Why does he get everything?"

"He doesn't get everything, Finn." Rachel reached over and touched his arm gently. "Quinn still loves you. She was manipulating and deceitful, yes. But she does love you. And I know you love her. You won't admit it because you're still hurt, but I can see it when she walks by. And when she first moved in with me, you wouldn't have been so angry if you didn't still care about her."

"Yeah, well." Finn jerked his arm from her grasp. "Life would sure be a hell of a lot easier if I didn't."

"The funny thing is, Finn." Rachel continued. "Quinn said the same thing. And, as I said before, love isn't supposed to be easy."

*~*

Rachel spent the better part of her day staring at the screen of her cell phone, hoping that at some point Noah would at least text her. When he didn't, she figured he was just going to be difficult and completely ignore her pseudo apology. After school as she twisted the combination and opened up her locker, inside she found a grape slushie, a post-it note attached to it.

_**I'm not ready to give you up either. Call you later babe.**_

As she sipped on her slushie, Rachel could feel herself blushing. Finn walked by, and though the boy was typically quite oblivious, she knew that he knew why she was smiling like she was. She also knew that she should have felt at least a little bit guilty, but all she could feel was total and complete happiness. Quinn met her at her locker, and gave her a puzzled look. Rachel handed the note to her, and when Quinn still didn't fully understand, Rachel regaled the story of her talk with Finn.

"I'm still not quite sure how he knew about mine and Finn's conversation-"

"Who cares!" Quinn interrupted. "The point is that Finn didn't deny still having feelings for me! Maybe after I have this baby, there'll still be hope for us."

Rachel didn't have the heart to tell Quinn that Finn, even if he didn't deny still caring about her, would have a hard time forgiving and trusting Quinn after what she had done. Feelings aside, Rachel highly doubted Finn would take her back very easily. But, Quinn looked so happy and hopeful, a look Rachel hadn't seen on Quinn in weeks, that she couldn't be heartless and burst that bubble.

"Yeah, perhaps there will." Quinn's smile nearly reached her ears and made Rachel's cheeks hurt, but she said nothing. Instead, she looped her arm through Quinn's and led her out of the school towards her car.

*~*

That afternoon, as Rachel was preparing to head to her pointe class, the phone rang and she recognized the number immediately as Noah's home phone. Not even registering that Noah was in fact working at the moment, she answered the phone enthusiastically.

"Noah, hi!" She beamed into the phone. "I'm so glad you called!"

"Um, Rachel?"

"Anna?" Rachel asked, shocked. "Is that you?"

"Yeah." Anna giggled. "I need to ask you a favor."

"Anything, Anna." Rachel sat down, glancing at the clock on the wall and mentally calculating how long she had before class. "What's the matter?"

"Can you come get me? Please?" Anna whispered into the phone, and Rachel almost couldn't hear her through the muffled sounds of Anna covering the phone receiver with her hand.

"Why, Anna?" Rachel's voice was laced with concern; this wasn't like Anna at all. Something was not right. "Anna, what happened?"

"Remember what we talked about at the skating rink?"

_Rachel pulled up in front of the Puckerman house Wednesday evening to drop Quinn off and pick Anna up. Quinn, who was typically quite pale anyway, looked as if she were a deer in the headlights. He cheeks were completely drained of any color that normally resided there._

"_Quinn?" Rachel turned to look at her friend, who was staring off at nothing. "Is anything the matter?"_

"_His mother is going to hate me." Quinn choked out. "She already hates me for wanting to give the baby up, she's going to hate me even more when I tell her that I've made an appointment for us to meet a couple tomorrow."_

"_Quinn." Rachel replied as soothingly as she could manage. "It's going to be fine. Jennifer is a kind and understanding woman. She may not agree with the decision you're making for your daughter, but she will respect it."_

"_They're not even speaking to you." Quinn shot back, causing Rachel's eyes to cast downward. "You're only here because you're suddenly best friends with his little sister."_

"_Noah and I had a falling out, yes, but everything will be fine, I have great confidence in that."_

"_Yeah, you sound confident." Quinn scoffed sarcastically, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, my hormones are all over the place, I'm just scared."_

"_I know, Quinn." Rachel gave her a small, encouraging smile. "I know."_

_Quinn returned the smile and exited the car, waving slightly at Anna who marched straight past her and into the passenger seat of Rachel's car._

"_I'm so excited!" The young girl giggled, bouncing up and down in her seat. "I've never been roller-skating before! We're going to have so much fun! I have a lot to tell you!"_

_Rachel shook her head but smiled warmly at her young friend. As Anna chattered on and on about whatever happened to be running through her head at the moment, Rachel wondered if Noah tuned her out the way she was tuning out Anna. Not that she wasn't interested in what Anna had to say, but she had a lot to say. A LOT. When they pulled up to the rink, Rachel paid for their admission and then led Anna to counter where they requested the proper skate size. Buckling Anna's skates first, and then her own, Rachel's ears twitched at the sounds of a very familiar tune from her childhood_

'_Dirty Pop!'_

"_I haven't heard this song in so long." Rachel smiled, picturing Justin Timberlake in the song's music video. Rachel could not deny her Justin-love. At the ripe old age of eleven, Rachel had fallen head-over-heels in love with the front man of the infamous boyband NYSNC._

"_That's because it's old and icky." Anna stood from the bench and rolled onto the rink, waiting patiently by the entrance with her hand outstretched for Rachel to take. Rachel rolled her eyes, but quickly joined Anna on the skating rink. The rolled around the rink three times before Anna spoke again. "My father called my mom."_

"_What?!" Rachel nearly stumbled from the shock. At the fact that Shane Puckerman had called, or that Anna was so calm about the whole thing, she couldn't be sure. "When?"_

"_This morning." Anna let go of Rachel's hand and began to skate ahead. "He wants to meet me."_

"_What did your mother say?"_

"_If I repeat it, you'll get mad at me."_

"_Try me."_

"_She told him he would rot in Hell before she let him near me."_

"Did he call you again?" Rachel asked, already knowing the answer.

"Can you take me to the mall? And stay with me? I don't wanna do this alone…" Anna sounded unsure, and Rachel knew that if Jennifer found out she would be furious, but having grown up without a mother, Rachel also knew that she would jump at the chance to see her biological mom. "Please?"

"Ok." Rachel finally conceded, unable to tell Anna 'no'. "Tell your mother that I'm picking you up for a girl's day at the mall."

"Thanks, Rachel."

"You're welcome, Anna."

*~*

Rachel and Anna sat in the food court and Lima Central Mall, scanning the crowd for Shane Puckerman. Rachel had seen a picture of him once, and it was very evident where she and Noah got their looks. More so Noah than Anna; he was quite literally the spitting image of his father, and while Anna looked very similar, Rachel could see a bit Jennifer in her as well.

"I don't even know what he looks like now." Anna said, exasperated. "All I have is a picture of him when Noah was younger than me."

"I think that's him." Rachel pointed towards the entrance as a tall, scruffy man with dark, curly hair, slightly tanned skin and Noah's hazel eyes. "He looks just like Noah."

"Are you going to be Noah's girlfriend like I told you, Rachel?" Anna asked as she followed Rachel's gaze and spotted the man in Rachel thought could be her father. "Because he picked me up from school before work and had this big goofy grin and when I asked what his problem was he was like 'Rachel's gonna be around a lot more, I think.' What gives?"

"Well," Rachel blushed and flagged down Shane, who became stock still at the sight of Anna. He faltered for a moment, but slowly continued the trek across the food court. "I think, if he were to ask me to be his girlfriend, I would most definitely say yes. But I haven't actually spoken to him about the matter yet. I will tomorrow when I see him at school."

"Hi." Shane held his hand out for Rachel to take. When she shook it, she could see questions burning in his eyes. She glanced to Anna, who just stared at the man wide-eyed and looking positively terrified. "I'm Shane Puckerman."

"Rachel." She replied, smiling a fake smile. "I'm a friend of…" She trailed off, willing Anna to jump into the conversation, but no dice. "Anna. This is Anna."

Shane reached over to shake her hand, but Anna looked at his hands as if he were trying to hand her some kind of disease. "I'm your daddy, little lady."

"That is yet to be seen." Anna crossed her arms and glared up at the man. "I just wanna know why."

Shane sighed and ran a hand through his hair, looking to Rachel who averted her eyes. Finally sitting down, leaned back into his chair, trying to formulate a response. Rachel squirmed in her seat, uncomfortable with the situation. Shane clearly didn't want to tell his entire story with Rachel in the vicinity, but there was no way she could leave Anna alone with a man she'd never met.

"I was in a really bad place, Anna." Shane finally spoke, staring down at his hands which sat folded on the table. "I drank a lot, and I was doing some really hard drugs. And I wasn't nice. I, um, I used to hit your mom a lot. There were times I'd beat the crap out of her, and not even remember doing it the next day. She was too scared of me to leave me, otherwise she probably would have. The first time your mom ever stood up to me Noah was eight and I hit him hard enough that his lip started bleeding. Your mom flipped out and told me to leave and never come back and that she was calling the cops and I got pissed and pushed her down the stairs." Anna and Rachel both gave an audible gasp, and Rachel reached for Anna's hand blindly, giving it a tight squeeze.

"I don't even remember much after that, to be honest." Shane continued. "I think Noah called 911, hell, I might have even called and just don't remember. All I know is an ambulance took all of us to the hospital and they could tell I'd been drinking. When they got to the hospital and the police came, I remember freaking out thinking I was going to jail for killing your mom. But then the doctor came and said she and the baby were fine. I didn't even know she was pregnant. And the police asked her what happened, I thought for sure I was going to jail. But then she said that Noah had left a skate in the hallway or something and that it was dark in the house and she fell down the stairs. She didn't even tell them about me when she could have. I knew they didn't believe her, but what could they do? I left the next day. I couldn't face her knowing I'd almost killed our unborn child."

Shane paused, asked the two girls if they wanted something to eat, and when they declined got up got himself a burger. A few minutes later both girls had said nothing, just watched as he ordered his food and brought it back to their table. Digging into his burger, Shane continued his story.

"I spent close to a year in rehab to sober up, and it was probably the hardest thing I ever did." He paused. "Well, leaving when I knew your mom was pregnant with you was actually the hardest, but I guess I'll settle for a tie. Anyway, after I sobered up, I left rehab, found a job and I met Meg. We dated just over a year when I told her about the three of you guys. She kept me straight, and I have been ever since. I haven't even had champagne on New Years, haven't done any drugs or anything since I met Meg. After a year and half I proposed and she said yes, but that I needed to make peace with Jennifer and see you before she could marry me."

"So you two still aren't married?" Anna finally spoke, choking on the words as they came out.

"No, I came back almost six months later. I don't know when you were born, but I guessed it was around the time you should have turned two. Noah and his friend were playing tag and you were trying to keep up. You kids looked so happy; I just couldn't ruin that for the two of you. Your mom saw me and came over and asked me to leave. I told her I'd straightened up; I just came to make peace with her so we could both move on with our lives. I did ask to see you, but she said you were hers. She wouldn't even tell me your name. Until you called me three weeks ago, I still didn't know your name. Noah came up to the car and told me he missed me, even though I was an asshole and that just broke my heart. Your mom said I was forgiven, but she wouldn't let me see her kids and I think after all I did, she had that right. I didn't come back again until Noah was thirteen. I went to his Bar Mitzvah, but your mom wouldn't let me see you. Noah said he wanted to start seeing me again, but by then Meg and I had moved closer to her family in Iowa so her parents could be there when she had Rebecca. I've only seen him maybe five times in the past four years."

"How old is Rebecca?" Anna asked, having recognized the name as the young girl who had answered her original phone call.

"She turned four a couple months back." Shane gave a small smile that Anna actually seemed interested in his life. "And Sarah will be two next month."

"Noah will be seventeen on Friday." Anna said, not really sure why she said it. Of course Shane knew how old Noah was.

"I know." Shane nodded. "I actually just mailed his birthday present; he should get it tomorrow or Friday. Look, Anna." Shane scooted his chair slightly closer to hers. "I know I can't make up for the past seven years, but I really want to know you. I want a chance to be your Daddy."

"You will _never_ be my dad." Anna said evenly, not an ounce of emotion evident in her voice. "You should have fought harder for me. You could've stayed and fixed yourself here, with my mom and Noah. You almost killed me because you couldn't put the beer down. And you hurt my mom and brother. I hate you. So just go home to your new family. You wasted your money coming out here. And I'm EIGHT." Anna shot up from her chair stormed out in a way that would put any of Rachel's storm outs to shame.

"I don't get it." Shane slumped in his chair. Rachel wasn't sure if he was speaking to her, or just speaking to speak. "I came all the way out here to see her. How can she still be mad?"

"Telling her you want to be part of her life and proving it are two very different things." Rachel offered, not allowing her voice to rise. "You just told her you've seen Noah five times in four years. And that from the time she was two until she was four, you made no effort to see her and her brother again. Why wouldn't she be angry?" Rachel grabbed her bag and stood to follow Anna through Barnes & Noble and out of the mall. As Rachel pulled out of her parking space, she vaguely registered that Anna was crying silent, angry tears. Silent, angry Anna wouldn't want to be held and told everything would be ok, and Rachel hadn't a clue how to fix this.

"Can we go to Red Lobster?" Anna asked between tears. "I just want to see my brother."

"Ok." Rachel pulled out of the parking lot and drove to the restaurant, remaining silent the entire time. It was 5:30 and everyone was trying to get home from work. What should have been a ten minute drive very quickly (or slowly, depending on what perspective one looked at the situation from) became a nearly thirty minute drive. When they arrived, Anna practically flew from the car and rushed to the front doors, tapping her foot impatiently for Rachel. As Rachel opened the door for Anna, she scanned the crowd in the restaurant for Noah. Not spotting him immediately, she walked up to the hostess. "Table for two?"

"Right this way." The girl said cheerily, leading them to a small booth in the back. Anna slid into the seat and Rachel sat across from her. "You're waitress will be right with you, but can I get you anything to drink?"

"Actually," Anna said before Rachel could say anything. "Can Noah be our waiter? It's very important."

"I don't know if I can do that…" Taylor said nervously.

"He's our brother." Rachel said, earning a look from Anna. "We haven't seen him since our parents divorced six years ago, we want to surprise him."

Taylor seemed to buy this, and left to find Noah. In a few moments, Noah was heading their way, smirking when he spotted them.

"What's all this about?" He said as he stood by their table. He smiled at Rachel who nodded her head towards Anna. Following her gaze, Noah saw the tear stains on his sister's cheek. Immediately he kneeled beside her. "Hey, Sport. What's wrong?"

"Your dad is a jerk." Anna choked out a sob and flung her arms around her brother's neck, clinging to him desperately. Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as looked over at Rachel searching for answers.

Rachel wiped a tear away at the sight. Listening to Anna tell Noah what had just happened truly was heartbreaking, and seeing the anger begin to build in Noah's eyes would have been frightening if she didn't feel the anger was completely justifiable. By the time Anna finished telling her story, her eyes had dried and her voice was starting to sound parched. Noah left to get them drinks, returning with water for Anna and tea for Rachel. After Anna had taken a few sips from her glass, Noah began to rub small circles on her back.

"He's not going to hurt you anymore. Not if I have anything to do with it." Noah promised her. Something in Rachel's brain triggered, and before she could stop herself she was singing.

_Nothing's gonna harm you,_

_Not while I'm around_

_Nothing's gonna harm you, darling,_

_Not while I'm around_

Noah glanced around the restaurant to ensure that his supervisor wasn't around before he jumped in.

**Demons are prowling everywhere, nowadays**

**I'll send em howling, I don't care,**

**I've got ways.**

**No one's gonna hurt you, **

**No one's gonna dare**

_Other's can desert you,_

_Not to worry, whistle I'll be there_

_Demon's will charm you with a smile,_

_For a while, but in time_

**Nothing can harm you**

**Not while I'm around…**

Anna smiled at them, making Noah feel substantially less embarrassed when the other customers began to applaud the two of them. Pulling out his notepad and pen he prepared to take their orders.

"If you two don't order something and make it look like I'm really working, I'm gonna get in trouble." Rachel ordered a Cesar salad with grilled shrimp (Noah rolled his eyes, because salad? Seriously?), Anna ordered a bowl of clam chowder. The rest of the evening, Rachel and Anna chatted on about easy topics; Belle was the best Disney Princess for a reason, Anne of Green Gables would make a fantastic musical, Anna's lack of Barbra Streisand knowledge, but apparent love for Celine Dion; anything to lighten the mood. By the time they were ready to leave, Anna's eyes were already beginning to droop and Noah's boss had decided to let him off early on the condition that he sing 'Happy Birthday' anytime a customer who claimed it was their cake day came in. Rachel paid, left Noah a generous tip and led Anna outside, letting Noah know she would see him when he got home.

Anna drifted off on the drive back to the Puckerman's house, so Rachel was forced to carry her into the house. But, given that Anna wasn't much short than Rachel, her feet drug on the ground as Rachel "carried" her across the threshold. Rachel looked at the stairs and decided very quickly that there was no way she would make it upstairs without waking Anna, so she laid her down on the couch gently and then headed to the closet to find a thin blanket to cover her with. Jennifer emerged from her bedroom, rubbing her eyes and Rachel felt bad for waking her from her nap.

"Rachel!" Jennifer said excitedly through her yawn. "It's so good to see you! Thanks for spending so much time with Anna. I hate working so much but when you're a single parent with no child support, sometimes you have to do whatever necessary."

"I understand completely, Jen." Rachel whispered, pointing towards the couch to show Jennifer that Anna was already asleep. "I'm sorry I haven't been over for the past week, Noah and I… had a misunderstanding. He's actually probably already on his way home right now, actually. Do you mind if I just wait for him in his bedroom? I'd really like to get everything out in the open between he and I as soon as possible."

"Go right ahead. I'll take care of her." Jennifer patted Rachel on the shoulder before walking into the living room with the blanket to cover Anna with. Rachel all but flew up the stairs, silently closing Noah's door behind her. She realized quickly she had only been in here once before, during the one week that she and Noah "dated". She hadn't really paid much attention to it that day, he'd chosen Glee for her and she was rewarding him with a hot make out session. She walked around his room slowly, looking things over. There was a profile picture from one of Quinn's sonograms pinned to the wall above his computer, and Rachel's heart melted. She reached over and gently ran her finger over the outline of Noah's daughter. Looking around the room some more, she rolled her eyes at the pile of dirty clothes in the corner, and smiled when she saw his guitar on its stand. Digging through her purse to find the small packet of gold star stickers she always kept handy, she crossed the room quickly and placed a sticker just Northeast from the sound hole. Smiling to herself, she sat down on Noah's bed and continued to look around until she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Hey." Noah said with a smile as he walked into the room and closed the door behind him. "So… I guess we have to have one of those feelings talks now, don't we?" 

Rachel stood from the bed and walked over to him, smiling shyly as she wrapper her arms around his neck, lacing her fingers together at the base of his Mohawk. It was pretty clear to her that Noah was more than just a little shocked by her actions, and it made the already present butterflies in her stomach dance. "Eventually."

That was all Noah needed to hear before placing his hands and her hips and pulling her as close to him as he could manage. Her smile widening and that hung the stars look was back, causing Noah face to break into a full on grin as he leaned down and pressed his lips to her gently. This time, Rachel didn't hesitate, she didn't try to analyze the situation or push him away, she just allowed her lips to move with his and when his tongue sought entrance, she granted it. Rachel guessed the two of them stood there, exploring each other's mouths, for hours upon hours when really it was only a matter of minutes. Heavenly, blissful minutes. Which, in the end, were interrupted by a phone call from Quinn.

"_Popular! I know about pop-u-lar!"_

Rachel jumped away from Noah abruptly, reaching for her phone to silence the ringer before answering it.

"Hello, Quinn!" Rachel said into the phone. "Yes, I'm sorry but Anna asked me to help her with something really important and-" She paused and glanced at Noah who was holding his guitar, smiling at the new décor she had added to it. "Yes, Quinn. I'll be home in thirty minutes. Ok. Ok, goodbye."

"Is this your doing?" Noah said in the most serious voice he could manage, pointing to the sticker.

"Maybe." Rachel giggled, grabbing her purse from his bed. "Quinn says that my fathers are a little perturbed that I didn't attend pointe today, but I'm sure once Quinn tells them I've over here they won't mind quite as much."

"You're house is only a ten minute drive from here." Noah said as he removed the strap from his guitar and moved to sit on his bed. Leaning against the headboard, he stretched his legs out in front of him. "You told Quinn you'd be home in thirty; you have time to listen to this. I'm gonna speak you're language for a second."

"Ok." Rachel sat down at the foot of his bed facing him with her legs tucked under her slightly. Silently Noah began to strum at his guitar, smirking at her as a smile spread across her face as she recognized the song.

_We're both looking for something  
We've been afraid to find  
It's easier to be broken  
It's easier to hide_

Looking at you,holding my breath,  
For once in my life,I'm scared to death,  
I'm taking a chance,letting you inside.  


Noah closed his eyes as he came to the chorus, completely losing himself in the lyrics of the song.

_  
Feeling alive all over again,  
As deep as the sky, under my skin  
Like being in love, she says  
For the first time  
Maybe I'm wrong,  
But I'm feeling right where I belong  
With you tonight  
Like being in love  
To feel for the first time_

When Noah opened his eyes again, he looked at Rachel and saw that her eyes were glassy, but she had a smile on her lips so he knew he was onto something.__

The world that I see inside you  
Waiting to come to life  
Waking me up to dreaming  
Reality in your eyes

Looking at you,  
Holding my breath,  
For once in my life  
I'm scared to death,  
I'm taking a chance,  
Letting you inside.

Noah opted to skip the second chorus, he hated being super repetitive, and skipped straight into the bridge; this was the most important part of the song anyway.__

We're crashing  
Into the unknown  
We're lost in this  
But it feels like home

I'm feeling alive all over again  
As deep as the sky that's under my skin  
Like being in love, she says, for the first time  
Maybe I'm wrong, I'm feeling right  
Where I belong with you tonight  
Like being in love to feel for the first time

Rachel beamed at him before launching herself at him and wrapping her arms around his neck. He laughed and awkwardly attempted to return the hug and move his guitar out of the way at the same time.

"Let me be clear here, Berry." He said seriously. "We are not friends anymore."

Rachel pulled away from him immediately, a scowl on her face. Noah burst into laughter and decided then and there that mad Rachel was actually quite cute.

"As of, like, ten minutes ago, you are my girlfriend." Noah said firmly. "And I am your boyfriend, and if Finn doesn't like it, well… he can shove it for all I care. You are _mine._"

Normally Rachel would find such a statement to be completely sexist and chauvinistic, but this was Noah, _her_ Noah. And he wanted her. And that was the only thing in the universe that mattered to Rachel.

**Up Next: A very Quinn-centric chapter, but I think it's going to be pretty sweet. The reason the flashback got pushed for this chapter is because the way it was originally placed just didn't feel right, at all. And the way the next chapter is written just makes a TON more sense. Granted, it will be significantly shorter than my last few updates, but still. I have great confidence in it. The last chapter (chapter 9) will be very, very Noah centric though. The sooner I get to 20 reviews (come on, we find out about Anna's father AND Noah and Rachel get together in this chapter?? I'm feeling some reviewing goodness here!) the sooner the next chapter will be up. I'm going to spend from now until Sunday replying to reviews and reviewing stories that have been updated that I haven't had much time to read yet, but I'm feeling motivated, I will definitely update!**

**P.S. Who wants to see pictures of my beautiful Xavier?? He's gained 3 ounces in a week and though still on a ventilator is doing very well! He has so much hair for being so early!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Glee and its characters belong to Ryan Murphy and Fox Network; I am neither, hence the disclaimer.**

**I should probably also say that none of the song lyrics I have used belong to me, either. Sad as it may be, I'm a terrible song writer. Tried, and failed epically. I'm a pretty phenom rapper though, my stage name is JewFro.**

***Also, if you're confused in this chapter, Quinn refers to Noah as Puck, so unless Rachel is speaking, this chapter he will be Puck.**

One month and three days (she had not been counting; Rachel had) after Rachel and Puck had officially gotten together, Quinn was ready to scream. She thought they were actually quite a cute couple; Rachel wasn't so neurotic around him, and Puck wasn't such a jerk around her, and the fact that Rachel was very clearly over Finn was nothing if not comforting. But, one month and three days later, Finn still refused to speak to her. He smiled at her for the first time since babygate five days prior, but he acted as if he hadn't heard her when she said 'hi'. Regionals were now two weeks away, and if New Directions thought Sectionals had tension written all over it, that was because they hadn't gotten this far into competition yet. And, of course, Quinn hadn't been about to pop then, either.

Quinn sat in Glee and watched as the others performed the choreography for their country number for the third time that practice and she could honestly say she was bored to tears. Mr. Schue had insisted that once she hit 35 weeks, which was a week and four days ago, she practice only minimally. Rachel had informed him that statistics showed that first time mothers usually delivered late or early, very rarely around the actual due date. Upon hearing that, Schue did everything within his power to ensure that Quinn's body had the least amount of stress put on it in order to ensure the baby stay inside of her until after Regionals. As it was, Quinn would be performing a lead part in a Disney number that hadn't been choreographed with her suddenly very large stomach involved. Many of the spins and lifts had been removed in the past week. Watching Rachel and Puck sing together, and seeing Finn so annoyed by it only irritated Quinn further.

When the song finally ended, Schue called an end to rehearsal and bid them all a good afternoon. Quinn grabbed her purse and pushed herself up into a standing position as slowly as she could and waited for Rachel to finish talking to Schue about sequined legwarmers or whatever it was she always felt the need to discuss at the end of rehearsals. Puck approached her and smiled, reaching out to rub her belly.

"Hey, Norah." Puck whispered as he knelt in front of Quinn so that his face was level with her stomach. "Did you hear Daddy singing, baby girl?" Seeing Puck act like this always made Quinn think twice about her decision to have the baby adopted, he was clearly head over heels with her. She just hated the way he always called her Norah, he was only making it harder on himself. "Only a couple more weeks and you'll be here. I can't wait to meet you and hold you and kiss you." Puck placed a few soft kisses on Quinn's stomach and then quickly jumped back, staring at Quinn's lower half.

"What's wrong?" Quinn looked down and saw nothing but her enlarged belly.

"I, uh, I think we have a problem, Q." Puck said nervously, his eyes growing wider and wider by the second. Quinn leaned forward slightly to try to see around herself to no avail. She was about to ask Puck to stop gawking at her and tell her what was wrong when suddenly Rachel was there, screaming and acting out as if the world was about to end.

"Her water broke!" Rachel shrieked rushing to Quinn's side and snatching her purse. "Noah, get the car! Mr. Schue, call the hospital! We have to get Quinn registered immediately! I'll call her obstetrician and my fathers to make sure one of them can bring Quinn's overnight bag. Don't worry, Quinn! Everything's going to be fine!"

"Rachel!" Quinn snapped her fingers in front of the brunette's face, causing her to snap her mouth shut instantly. "It's fine; I haven't even had any contractions yet. Just get me to the hospital, and breathe. You're going to hurt yourself, and I'M the one who has to push a baby out of my… Well, you know."

Quinn let out a laugh and Rachel took her instructions and began to breathe in and out deeply as Puck rushed out of the room to get his car and Mr. Schue called the hospital.

"This is no laughing matter, Quinn!" Rachel shouted. "We're about to deliver a baby three weeks premature! We're not prepared for this!"

"Ray-chel." Quinn annunciated the syllables of her name slowly. "If you do not calm down, you're not coming to the hospital. Call the doctor then call the Buchanans."

"But, Quinn." Rachel was shocked and glanced at the door to ensure that Noah wasn't around. "I thought you and Noah had decided that the Buchanans shouldn't be there when she's born?"

"If they're not there I'll get attached." Quinn shrugged. "I can't afford to be selfish now. She deserves the best, and they're the best for her. And they're in town anyway, Puck and I were supposed to meet them after practice."

"But-"

"Rachel." Quinn warned, forcing Rachel to relent. "Just call them, please? Or I will."

Rachel nodded and then pulled out her cell phone to make the necessary phone calls. Quinn rubbed her stomach and couldn't resist the smiling tugging at the corners of her mouth. In several hours, her baby would be here. The past eight months had flown by and were about to come to a head. She was about to give the greatest gift to a couple of amazing people and despite the fact that she'd carried this little girl for eight months, she knew that allowing her to grow up with the Buchanans was also the greatest gift she could ever give her daughter.

"Noah's out front, are you ready to go?" Rachel pulled her trolley bag in one hand and Quinn's purse in the other as the two girl walked slowly down the hall, Mr. Schue close behind should they need him. When they reached the front of the school, Puck helped Quinn into the backseat and then handed Rachel the keys to the Camaro. Rachel thanked Mr. Schue and then pulled out heading towards the hospital. Halfway to their destination, Quinn let out a howl of pain and clutched her stomach as Puck panicked, unsure what he was supposed to do. "Noah, I need you to keep track of how much time passes between contractions, we need to be able to give the information to the nurses when we arrived."

Puck quickly pulled out his phone and stared at the time on the display as he waited for Quinn to have another wave of pain. They had just pilled into the hospital parking lot when Quinn gripped his hand like a vice and bit her lip so hard he was sure she'd draw blood. Fourteen minutes. Puck knew absolutely nothing about labor, but he was guessed that fourteen minutes wasn't very long between contractions.

Rachel rushed to the front desk, announcing to whoever would listen that her friend was in pre-term labor and needed to be rushed to delivery immediately. Hearing the words "pre-term labor" set the nurses into immediate action, rushing in every which direction to get Quinn in to see a doctor as soon as humanly possible. While Rachel filled out the necessary paperwork, Puck followed the nurse as Quinn was wheeled into the delivery suite and waited patiently for a doctor. After checking Quinn's cervix (you're only one centimeter dilated, so you have quite a while to go, Quinn") and performing an ultrasound to ensure that the baby was not in distress, the doctor left with the promise to return within another couple of hours to re-examine her. Quinn text Rachel, asking her to please call her mother and waited nervously for a response. When Rachel finally replied, saying that her mother was calling Quinn's sister, Margaret, to meet them there and that the Buchanan's were on their way, Quinn let out a sigh of relief.

"My sister's coming." Quinn told Noah brightly. "I haven't seen her in months, Puck."

"That's because she's a bitch, Quinn." Puck told her calmly, causing her jaw to drop. "Don't look at me like that, Q. Where the fuck was she when your parents just threw you out with no place to go? She was too worried about them not speaking to her to help her own sister. Sorry if I'm not too enthusiastic to be meeting her sorry ass."

"Are you going to act like that when the Buchanans get here, too?"

"Why the hell did you invite them?" Puck glared at her but refused to move from his seat. "I'm not signing those papers."

"Puck." Quinn pleaded. "They're going to get here, and they're going to be so, so happy. Can you please just think of someone other than yourself? Think of how happy Norah's going to be with them."

"Like hell I'm thinking of myself, Q." Puck raised his voice, growing angrier by the second. "I'm thinking of everyone but myself. I'm thinking of Norah growing up with them and always wanting to know why she doesn't look like them, and then finding out we gave her away and wondering why. I'm thinking about Anna and my mom when I decide to have more children and they don't understand why I want those kids, but I didn't want Norah. And I'm thinking of Rachel and how heartbroken she's going to be when I sign my rights away to the daughter I've busted my ass to be able to keep."

"Puck, I-"

"And yeah, I'm thinking of me, too." Puck cut her off, continuing his rant. "And how I will never, for the rest of my life, be able to forgive myself for not standing up to you to get what I want."

"You can't always get what you want, Puck." Quinn cried, tears flowing down her cheeks freely.

"Well, you sure seem to think _you_ can." Puck spit back. "You think you can just give her away and get back to your life like normal? Maybe that's good enough for you, and maybe you can live with yourself, but I _need_ her."

Puck finally stood up and stormed out of the room, Quinn assumed, to find Rachel, because after a few minutes she came in to offer her support.

"Quinn." Rachel said soothingly, rubbing the sobbing girl's arm gently. "Noah's just upset. Don't worry about him. I've given him strict instructions to stay in the waiting room until you're dilated to ten centimeters and ready to push. No matter what he's feeling, we can not bring this child into a stressful environment."

"Aren't you supposed to be on his side?" Quinn laughed softly through her sobs, wiping away the tears and they spilled out.

"Right now, Quinn, I'm on Norah's side." Rachel said smiling as she reached over and gave Quinn's stomach a gentle rub. "We all just want what's in the best interest of her future."

"And what do you think that is?" Quinn asked quietly. The two had only spoken about whether Quinn wanted to keep the baby once, and given that Rachel was dating Noah the conversation had gotten awkward quite fast. Quinn stared up at Rachel expectantly, but she remained silent, choosing to act as if she hadn't heard Quinn say anything.

In the waiting room, Puck sat impatiently waiting for news about Quinn's progress. Rachel had gone in the room over an hour ago and hadn't so much as text him any information. Her fathers had called him a few minutes ago and had informed him that they were picking up Jennifer and Anna and carpooling to the hospital and that he should expect them soon. Puck had told the repeatedly that Quinn was only one centimeter and not to come yet, but they wanted none of that. Puck wished they had listened. The tension between Quinn and himself would only build when his family and Rachel's arrived and would want to see the baby when Quinn was so adamant on giving her away. Glancing down the hallway, Puck had to do a double take when he thought he saw Quinn walking down the hall in high heels with a toddler in tow. 'That must be Margaret.' He told himself.

"Are you Puck?" The blonde asked, and Puck recognized the eyebrow arch that Quinn had given him on numerous occasions; definitely Margaret.

"Yeah. Quinn's in room 312." Puck gestured down the hall in the general direction of Quinn's room.

"Ok." Margaret sat the young girl down in a seat near him. "Can you watch Layla? I don't want her to be in there right now."

"Um, sure." Puck gave the small child a once-over as Margaret walked away briskly, counting the numbers on the doors until she reached her destination. Layla slid out of her seat and walked straight up to Puck and looked him in the eyes before saying

"You gonna marry Aunt Quinnie?" Layla asked, cocking her head to the side slightly.

"What?" Puck stared at the child, completely dumbfounded. "No. Why would you say that?"

"You not having a baby with Aunt Quinnie?" The girl looked completely confused.

"Well, yes. But just because you have a baby with someone doesn't mean you have to marry them." Puck tried to explain to her carefully.

"Uh huh!" Layla shouted. "My mommy say so!"

"Well you're mommy lied." Puck tried not laugh at the offended look on the child's face. "How old are you?"

"I three." Layla smiled brightly at the change of topic. "I a big girl!" She stretched her arms out as far as they would go to demonstrate.

"Yes, you are." Puck laughed. "A very big girl. Can you sit down, please? I don't want your mom to think I'm letting you run crazy."

Layla happily complied and began to swing her legs as they hung over the edge of the chair. Puck studied her intently, and realized she looked an awful lot like Quinn. Norah really would be beautiful if she looked like her mother, he decided. But, he still hoped with all of his being that she came out looking like himself and Anna.

The doctor had just examined Quinn's cervix again, ("about a centimeter and a half now, 8 and a half to go!") and suggested that she and Rachel go for a walk when Margaret walked into the room and scooped her sister into a tight embrace. Feeling out of place, Rachel excused herself and left to the waiting room to find Puck and their families waiting.

"Quinnie, Quinnie, Quinnie." Margaret squeezed Quinn tightly, a lone tear trailing down her face "I've missed you so much."

"I missed you, too, Maggie." Quinn whispered. She wiped away at her eyes. "Wanna go for a walk? The doctor says it'll speed up delivery."

Margaret nodded and helped Quinn sit up and get out of the bed and the two began to walk. "How have you been, Quinnie?"

"Pregnant." Quinn answered shortly. "Where's Layla?"

"In the waiting room with that Puck boy." Margaret shrugged. "And really, Quinnie? You couldn't haven chosen someone ELSE to give it up to? No wonder mom and dad kicked you out!"

"They don't even know he's the father." Quinn said quietly, trying to look at her feet as she shuffled down the hallway. "They still think she's Finn's, as far as I know. I mean, I only started hearing from _you_ last week, so who knows what's going on with them."

"Oh, right." Margaret nodded slowly. "I forgot all about Finn. Where is he anyway?"

Quinn didn't miss the way her sister had completely dodged the fact that she had just called her out on not keeping in contact throughout Quinn's pregnancy. "Why would he be here? She's Puck's daughter, not his. And besides, he's made it pretty clear he wants nothing to do with me."

"Why don't you just call him?" Margaret asked. "Babies tend to make people do things way out of the norm for them, you know."

"He won't even look at me most days, Mag." Quinn sighed. "I'll have Ra-agh!" she instinctively grabbed her sister's forearm with every ounce of power she could manage as another contraction coursed through her body. Doubling over in pain, Quinn bit her bottom lip so hard she was sure she was drawing blood. Margaret rubbed Quinn's back in an attempt to soothe her as she led her back towards her room. When the contraction finally passed and Quinn was situated back in her bed, Quinn reached for her phone only to realize that Rachel still had it from making phone calls earlier. "Can you go to the waiting room and get Rachel, Maggie? Please?"

"Rachel?" Margaret looked at her questioningly. "Who's Rachel?"

"The girl who was in here earlier." Quinn said, rubbing her stomach gently. "Puck's girlfriend."

"Of course." Margaret scoffed but left to get the girl in question anyway. When Rachel returned alone, Quinn instructed her to close the door and Rachel quickly complied.

"Is something wrong Quinn?" Rachel rushed to Quinn's side with a concerned look on her face. "Should I get Noah? Is the baby alright?"

"Everything's fine." Quinn reassured her. "My contractions are about nine minutes apart now, but everything's fine. I wanted my sister here because I thought she would comfort me, but all she's done is criticize me."

Rachel nodded, but could tell there was something else on the blonde's mind. "Is there's anything you want to discuss, Quinn?"

"How's Puck?" Quinn asked quietly after a few moments of silence. "I know this is hard on him."

"He's calmed down considerably." Rachel explained as she sat down in the chair beside Quinn's bed. "He's obviously still not completely sold on the idea of giving his daughter up for adoption, but he understands why you're making the decision that you're making, he just loves Norah so much. And I'm not saying that you don't. He just doesn't want to fail as a father the way that his own father has over and over again."

"Rachel, I know." Quinn giggled at Rachel's rambling. It was annoying at first, but over time in the Berry household she found it to be quite endearing. "He and I talked about it."

"When?" Rachel asked in shock. She had been under the impression that he and Quinn fought constantly because she simply didn't understand his reasoning behind wanting to keep the baby.

"After we met the Buchanans the first time. You two weren't talking." Rachel's mouth formed into a small 'o' and she looked down at her lap. She and Noah hadn't spoken about that meeting at all since they began dating. Other than Rachel telling him he'd be a good father, the baby had become a very taboo subject between the three them. Anytime she brought it up, one of them would make a comment that would set the other off and thus the commencement of World War Seventeen (Noah said seventeen was always the answer, no matter how many fights had happened amongst the three of them) would begin. "He never told you?"

When Rachel shook her head 'no', Quinn leaned back and began to tell her about the meeting.

_Puck parked the truck in front of the Lima Family Services office. He and Quinn were meeting a potential adoptive couple and he was none too thrilled about it._

"_Puck, do you really have to pout like a five-year-old?" Quinn said from the passenger seat. "You said you would act civilized about this. These could be her new parents."_

"_I just don't get what's wrong with her current parents, Quinn." Puck bit out. He always said a version of the same thing when the subject came up, but it got Quinn riled up and that was the entire point. She was doing this to aggravate him, he would say things like that to aggravate her._

"_You know what, maybe you should just leave." Quinn said furiously as she got out of the car and slammed the door. "I'll call Rachel for a ride later."_

"_Hey!" Puck pulled the key from the ignition and bolted from the car to catch up with her. He grabbed her elbow and pulled so that she was forced to turn and look at him. "I'm sorry, ok? I just… I don't wanna be a screw up like my dad. He's never even met Anna. I'm not gonna break this kid's heart like my old man did mine and my sister's."_

"_Please, Puck?" Quinn asked. "Just meet them. We don't have to decide anything today, but at least meet them before you make a judgment on who's best to raise her."_

_Puck said nothing, just grabbed Quinn's hand and dragged her into the building and told the receptionist that they were meeting the Buchanans. The receptionist told them the couple was waiting in Miss Walker's office. Quinn gulped nervously and Puck gave her hand a gentle squeeze before leading her down the hall. Miss Walker's office was open so they let themselves in and were greeted immediately by a blonde-haired, blue-eyed couple who looked more like siblings than spouses._

"_I'm Chris." Chris Buchanan shook Puck's hand firmly before turning to Quinn and kissing the back of her hand. "This is my wife, Melissa."_

"_Hello." Melissa smiled brightly and shook the two teenagers' hands. "So you're Quinn?" Quinn smiled shyly and nodded her head. "And that would make you Noah."_

"_Well, I sure hope I don't look like a Quinn." Puck quipped, earning him an elbow to the ribs from Quinn. "Sorry. Bad joke, I guess."_

"_So." Melissa said awkwardly. "Let's get to know each other shall we?"_

_Quinn took a seat in on of the chairs across the office from the Buchanans and motioned for Puck to join her. Though hesitant at first, he finally sat down leaned back into the chair, slouching._

"_How long have the two of you been together?" Chris asked, leaning forward in his chair with his elbows resting on his knees._

"_Whoa, whoa, whoa." Puck leaning forward, glancing at Quinn who made no move to correct the couple. "We're not together. At all. In any sense of the word."_

"_We're… separated." Quinn offered when she saw the look of complete shock cover the couple's faces. "The stress of the pregnancy made us realize we aren't really good as couple."_

"_That makes sense." Melissa smiling. Puck thought her cheekbones would probably fracture any moment because this woman did not stop smiling. "Is that what made the two of you two decide on adoption?"_

"_The two of us?" Puck stared at Melissa blankly. "Honestly, Quinn is the one making the decisions here. I'm just going along with it so she doesn't shut me out of this pregnancy completely."_

"_But you're willing to give us your daughter even if you don't agree with the adoption?" Melissa's never ending smile faltered for a moment, but was recovered quickly when Quinn jumped into the conversation._

"_He just doesn't want to admit that giving her to a couple who are more capable would be the best thing for our daughter." Quinn glared at Puck as she said this. "We just love her and want her to have everything she could ever want and need. You two can give her that."_

_As Quinn and the Buchanans began to fill out paper work, Puck excused himself and waited for Quinn by the Camaro, not wanting to watch as Quinn completely ignored his protests. He pulled out his cell and began to dial Rachel's number until he remembered that they weren't speaking. When he saw Quinn approaching the car with a file folder in her hand, he rolled his eyes and started the ignition._

"_That was very rude, Puck!" Quinn shouted as she fastened her seat belt. "Could you at least have listened to the rest of the conversation? They agreed to an open adoption! They're going to let us see her, and they only live two hours away."_

"_They're just telling you what you wanna hear, Q." Puck shouted back. "Of course they're gonna say we can see her if it means they get a baby out of it. Once they meet her, they're going to want her all to themselves."_

"_You mean like how you want her all to yourself?" Quinn quirked a brow and she knew she had made her point when he said nothing in return. "Just take me home, please. I don't want to fight about this right now."_

"_Whatever." Puck mumbled before doing exactly as she asked._

"I know he means well." Quinn said as she finished the story. "But, really, who are we kidding? We can't raise a baby. We can hardly stand each other. And now he has you, and-" Quinn suddenly doubled over in pain as a contraction washed over her. Silent tears spilled over her eyes as Rachel squeezed her hand. When the pain finally subsided, Quinn thanked Rachel and leaned back against the pillow. "I'm just sick of hurting people."

"Maybe," Rachel said thoughtfully "in giving this baby away, you're going to be hurting yourself a lot more than you're willing to admit."

After twelve hours of sitting in a hospital bed and not dilating past two centimeters, Quinn's doctors opted to take the baby via caesarian. Quinn had been awake to see her daughter for the first time, and watched with tear-filled eyes as Puck cut the chord and then held his baby girl before they put her out in order to stitch her back up. When she awoke, she was back in her hospital room and though she expected her sister and Rachel to be waiting for her, the only other people in the room were Puck and her; Norah.

She was beautiful, Quinn thought to herself. She had a head full of dark, wavy hair and from the angle at which she could see her, Quinn recognized Puck's nose and eyes and her chin. In spite of herself, Quinn found herself smiling at the sight of Puck rocking his little girl. She knew he helped raise his younger sister, but seeing him with his daughter was unnerving. He was a natural, and he was obviously very completely in love with the little girl.

"Daddy loves you so much, yes he does." Puck cooed at the infant who was wide awake and staring at him intently, as if she were actually taking in every word he was saying. "I wish I could be with you forever, but I think mommy's right. I can't give you what you deserve. And Chris and Melissa, they're going to love you so much! want you to know, little lady, that I'm not going to sign those papers because I don't want you, I'm signing them because you deserve a better life than I can give you. I know you're not going to remember this, so I wrote it all down and your new mommy and daddy are going to give you my letter when you're old enough to understand why we gave you to them."

Puck wiped at his eyes and when he realized that Quinn was awake, walked over to the bed and kissed her forehead before turning Norah to show her. "We made that. It was pretty crappy how it happened, but look how beautiful she is, Q."

"Can I hold her?" Quinn asked timidly, her eyes completely transfixed on her daughter. Puck slowly handed Norah to her mother, supporting her head gently until Quinn's hand replaced his. "Hi baby girl. Puck, she's perfect."

Puck smiled when Quinn looked up at him. "Yeah, she is. 5 pounds, 7 ounces, 18 and a half inches of perfect."

They sat in silence for several minutes, just staring at Norah in complete awe. She really was the perfect combination of the two of them and when she opened her eyes, Quinn was positive that they were already turning green. And the funniest part, Quinn thought, was that although her name would not be Norah when she became a Buchanan, she looked like a Norah; the name suited the baby perfectly.

"The Buchanans are here." Puck said quietly to break the silence. "The agency lady is, too. She said it would be easier if we sign the papers and say our goodbyes now, so that when she gets to go home she can go home with them."

Quinn let what he said sink in for a few moments as she stared at her daughter before replying. Norah hiccupped and Quinn laughed. How could someone so small, someone she had just met minutes ago, fill her heart and soul with such complete and utter happiness so quickly?

"I don't know if I can do that." Puck stared at her blankly, unsure what exactly she meant by that. Seeing the look of confusion on her face, Quinn quickly explained herself the best she could. "I knew I loved her when I was carrying her, but, God, I never realized I would love her that much more when she was actually born."

"So… what are you saying here, Q? I'm not stupid but you're gonna have to explain that shit a little better than that." Puck was confused. She had spent the past four and a half months begging him to agree to an adoption, and now she sounded like she was the one having doubts, for the very first time.

Quinn opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't think of what she was supposed to say to make him understand. When she looked back down at the now sleeping infant in her arms, she knew that the best way to explain was to, as Rachel had said many times, speak his language.

"I don't think I could forgive myself either." She choked out. "For giving her up, I mean. Maybe I thought it would just hurt more to admit it, but I need her just as much as you do. All I want is to make her happy, and I'm going to try my best to do that, but I know the thing that will make her happiest in this world is you."

"You're not going to sign the papers?" Puck's voice cracked slightly and he faked a cough to appear less effected by her words. He didn't bother telling her that Norah would love her just as much; all he could think about was the fact that Quinn was no longer denying him his child.

"No way." Quinn kissed Norah on her forehead. "I can't. I wanted my old life back, but even if she's gone I won't have my old life back. All I've been thinking about since I got pregnant is myself, now the only thing I want to think about is her. So if you're in, I'm in."

**Up Next: the aftermath of the arrival of Norah, Regionals (and Quinn's attempt to perform), closure for Finn and Quinn, the return of Seth, Josiah, Anna and Jennifer, Rachel and Noah fluffiness. And then… the end.**

**Edit 4.27.10 - My play opens this weekend! GREASE! So I've been CRAZY busy with rehearsals. I did have this in the "my documents" thing for a few days though. I think I uploaded it Saturday and then completely forgot to add it to the actual story. So sorry for the delay! School + Grease + Life (excuse my language) BLOWS. I love Grease but cannot wait for this play to be OVER. I'm missing two weeks of Glee for evening rehearsals. GAH. School was enough of a time suck, I honestly don't know what I was thinking doing this play. Anyway, if you want more on my rant, I just started a livejournal account under this same username. Go check it out. I'll also be posting some interesting non-fanfiction related works on there when I have the time. This time I'm not promising, because it seems when I do things happen and I become too busy to sit at the computer for more than 5 seconds at a time, but I will try my damndest to update on Friday before the show opens. Thank you all so, SO much for your reviews and for reading my story and making me feel good about myself when I get a dozen e-mails from fanfiction! And ESPECIALLY all of you that read and review every single chapter, you all are AMAZING!**

**Love & Rockets :]**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Glee and its characters belong to Ryan Murphy and Fox Network. I am neither, hence the disclaimer.**

**I know, I KNOW – this took forever, and I'm sure there's like… a lot of mistakes here. My apologies, I had a zillion re-writes of this chapter, it kept pissing me off. UGH… But the good news is, guess who's done with school for the summer :]**

**Special thanks to everyone who reviewed every single chapter of this fic and made me feel like it was worth writing! There's a few of you, and each one of you is so, so greatly appreciated! As is EVERYONE who alerted/favorited this story and me as an author. You all put a smile on my face!**

**It should be noted that an alternate ending to chapter 8 is being posted to my livejournal tomorrow, and then in a couple of days an alternate chapter 9. I accept anonymous comments there, so if you would like to leave a "review" there, that'd be pretty awesome. Please read the A/N at the end (I know it is incredibly freakin long, sorry) of this chapter for more information on upcoming projects.**

_Norah Annabelle Fabray Puckerman._

Noah filled out his daughter's name on her birth certificate with his right hand while cradling her gently with his left while Quinn took a much-needed nap. She'd been through Hell the past several hours, and Noah could tell she was completely drained. He also knew that he would need to work that evening and that Quinn needed all the rest she could get so that she could take care of Norah while he was working. He hated that today, the day of his daughter's birth, he had to work. But, since they had finally deciding they were going to keep her, he needed to make as much money as he could.

His mother had been convinced that they would keep the baby and had thankfully bought him a bassinet and a changing table, even several packs of diapers and wipes and a few weeks worth of clothes, but it wouldn't last. Norah would eventually grow out of those clothes, and would eventually need a crib instead of the bassinet, and Noah doubted the diapers and wipes Jennifer had accumulated would last to the end of Norah's first month, but right now all he was concerned about was keeping her, watching her grow, and, mostly, loving her with every inch of his soul.

Norah shifted in his arm and began to whimper slightly. Noah rocked her and began patting her back the best he could as he put the certificate on the table and moved his right hand to cradle her. Glancing at the clock he saw that it was nearing one in the afternoon and he would need to leave for work soon. His daughter was seven hours old and he was definitely not ready to leave her, especially when she was beginning to cry in his arms.

"Shhh, Norah." Noah cooed to the infant, frowning when her wails only seemed to get louder. "Come on, bumblebee, mama's sleeping. Please don't cry."

"Sing to her." Quinn mumbled, not opening her eyes. "She always liked it when she was in my stomach."

Noah nodded and bounced Norah lightly in his arms trying to come up with a song that would both calm her down and mean something. He didn't want the first song she actually heard him singing to her be super lame, it would be theirs for the rest of her life. Before he knew what he was doing the lyrics were falling from his mouth softly.

**You're just too good to be true**

**Can't take my eyes off of you**

Norah's cries came to an instant halt and Noah smiled warmly. Her eyes opened wide and she listened intently as Noah continued to serenade her.

**You'd be like Heaven to touch**

**I wanna hold you so much**

**At long last love has arrived**

**And I thank God I'm alive**

**You're just too good to be true**

**Can't take my eyes off of you…**

Norah smiled and Noah felt his heart swell. Everyone always said that babies that young can't smile, but here was his beautiful little girl doing just that. Defying gravity, Rachel would say. It was Friday and there was no Glee rehearsal so Noah knew she would be in to see Quinn and Norah once school let out. Part of him was nervous, because he really needed Rachel to love his daughter and get along with his baby mama, and the other part of him felt relieved because both missions had already been accomplished. He hadn't said the 'L' word yet, and neither had Rachel, but he knew they both felt it. That cliché about just _knowing_ when you love someone? It was a cliché for a reason. And he just knew, somehow, that Rachel loved Norah and knowing that put Noah immediately at ease.

"Bring her here." Quinn said groggily. "That was her 'feed me' cry earlier." Quinn slowly pushed herself up in the bed and winced at the pain that coursed through her from her abdomen. Noah had seen the scar earlier and though he usually didn't get along with Quinn much, seeing that made him feel strangely guilty for indirectly being the cause of said scar.

"Here you go, Norie. Go to mama." Noah slowly handed the baby to Quinn who took her smiling. He ran his fingers through the infant's dark hair before finally sitting down in the rocking chair as Quinn opened her gown and began to feed Norah.

"Why did you really change your mind?" Noah asked softly, not even a hint of accusation in his voice. He was genuinely curious as to why Quinn had a sudden change of heart.

"Well," Quinn pondered for a moment, gathering her thoughts to explain herself. "Every decision I made for her while I was pregnant was made without any thought. Someone offered me a solution and I took it. I wasn't thinking for myself, just of myself. And I don't want her life and the people raising her to be decided on a whim."

"Thank you." Noah leaned over and kissed Quinn's temple. "Thank you for changing your mind. I'm sure the Buchanans are great people, but this is my baby not theirs. And look at her! She's just… amazing."

"She really is." Quinn giggled, despite the fact that breast feeding hurt about a thousand times worse than the nurses had let on. "I can't believe something so perfect came out of the most imperfect of situations."

Noah said nothing, just smiled as Quinn fed Norah. When Rachel came into the room with his work clothes a few minutes later, he smiled brightly and crossed the room to kiss her. Rachel blushed and pushed him away gently before getting on her toes and kissing him on the cheek. (She always avoided kissing him in front of Quinn, as if his baby mama would be uncomfortable or something.) She handed him the clothes and pushed him out of the door. When Rachel turned back to Quinn and saw that she had the front of her gown slightly open and was breast feeding, the blush returned to her cheeks and she spun to face the opposite direction.

"Rachel, you don't have to turn around." Quinn laughed, wincing afterwards as Norah attempted to bite down with her gums at Quinn's movement. "It's nothing you haven't seen before."

"This is a very intimate bonding opportunity between the two of you." Rachel said without turning around. "I'm just going to wait in the hallway."

Quinn shook her head but said nothing as Rachel bolted out of the room. "Your Auntie Rachel is so strange sometimes, Norah."

"We gotta figure some things out, Q." Noah said seriously as he laid a sleeping Norah into the bassinet in his bedroom three days later. "I'm so happy you changed your mind, but I'm not doing this on my own. I'm not saying right now, but we _both_ need jobs to support this baby. And I've been talking to Miss P about going on independent study after Spring Break next week so we don't need daycare. My mom switched to the 11 to 7 shift permanently during the week, and double shift Friday nights, so she can watch her while I work 2-10."

"Wow." Quinn let out a breath she had been holding since he began his speech. "You've really been thinking about this, haven't you?"

"Yeah, I have." Noah agreed with a small smile. "Ma says she just knew that you'd come around eventually, so we came up with a game plan just in case. She still wants you to move in, ya know."

"What about Rachel?" Quinn gave him a pointed look. "I seriously doubt she'd be ok with me living with you."

"Me and her already talked about it." Noah countered, annoyed that she was shooting down his plans, at least he had some. "She agrees. It'd be better for Norah if she's not going back and forth between houses. Unless…"

"Unless…?" Quinn raised her eyebrows, unsure where Noah was going with this conversation.

"Unless she just lives with me and you can see her whenever you want." Noah ran the words together so quickly Quinn was sure she'd misheard him. At the dumbfounded look on her face Noah repeated the words and Quinn's eyes watered.

"I don't know if I can do that."

"Q, you just barely decided you even wanted to keep her." Noah pointed out calmly. "I've known since I knew you were knocked up that that's what I wanted. I've been busting my ass for three months, saving money and working as many hours as possible, I think I deserve to keep her most of the time. I've got things for her here, most of it's from thrift stores and stuff, but she has everything she needs for now here. At least let me keep her until she has a place to sleep at Rachel's. Then we can do the shared custody thing if you want."

"I'll think about it."

The first thirteen days of Norah's life flew by and before anyone knew it the entire Glee Club was boarding the bus to Regionals in Indianapolis. The top three show choirs from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan would compete over the weekend for one of ten spots at Nationals in Washington DC over summer vacation. While everyone else was nervous about being the smallest of the fifteen glee clubs, Noah was worried about leaving Norah overnight for the first time.

"It's going to be fine, Puck." Quinn said, giving his shoulder a squeeze before taking the seat across from him. "Jennifer, Seth and Joe can handle it."

"I'm not worried about them, Q." Noah said as he waved to his mother as she put Norah back into her carseat. "What if she thinks I'm just walking out on her? How can you be so damn calm about this?"

"Because, she is only two weeks old-"

"She'll be two weeks tomorrow, actually." Noah corrected her.

"And she doesn't even realize that we're gone." Quinn tried not to sound annoyed. In all honesty, she was worried about the same thing, but seeing Puck as vulnerable about it only reminded her why she decided to keep Norah in the first place and gave her the strength not to worry. "We'll be back Sunday, she's going to be fine."

"I hope you're right." Noah grumbled, pressing his forehead against the window and watching sadly as Jennifer drove away with Anna and Norah in the backseat to take them to Rachel's house.

"She is." Rachel grabbed his hand in hers and pulled it to her mouth to kiss the back of it softly. "You need to calm down Noah, your anxiety over the whole situation, while understandable and really quite adorable, is completely unwarranted. Quinn's right, she's too young to realize what's happening."

Noah looked at her sadly but said nothing before quickly kissing her temple and then leaning against the window and drifting off to sleep while Rachel and Quinn chattered on about whatever the hell it was the two girls had in common

Four hours later the group pulled into the hotel parking lot and New Directions clambered off the bus, excited to be there. Rachel pulled Noah along by the hand to collect their bags from the compartment beneath the bus and find out their room assignments. If Noah weren't so worried about Norah, he would have paid a bit more attention when Schue announced who his roommate was for the weekend.

"Why, hello tall, tan, and mohawk." Kurt wiggled his eyebrows at Noah and he thought he was going to be sick. Like, throw up all over Kurt's designer shoes kind of sick. When he saw Rachel and Quinn huddled together and laughing up a storm, Noah was sure this was just some prank.

"Ha-ha, Mr. Schue." Noah approached Mr. Schue, who just gave him a perplexed look. "Seriously, who am I roomin with?"

"I'm sorry, Puck, but your roommate IS Kurt." Schue shrugged. "I didn't think you and Finn were on good terms, but if you'd rather room with him then…"

"Hummel, what room we in?" Noah stalked away from Schue and snatched the room key from Kurt's hand before grabbing his luggage and following the group into the hotel. As soon as he was in his room and Kurt dismissed himself, heading to Mercedes' room for girl talk or whatever, Noah pulled out his phone and called his girlfriend.

"Can you come to my room, please?" Noah asked quietly, despite the fact that he was completely alone in his room. "And can you bring the books?"

"What about Quinn?" Rachel whispered to keep her own roommate from hearing.

"This is between us, not her." Noah answered dryly. "Babe, please?"

"Fine, what room?" Three minutes later there was a knock on Noah's door and on the other side was Rachel with a stack of children's books tucked under her arm. Noah leaned down and kissed her gently, grabbing her around the waist and drug her into the room. Noah walked them backwards until he hit the bed and laid down, pulling Rachel on top of him. She giggled into the kiss, parting her lips slightly, and he seized the opportunity to spear his tongue between her lips and into her mouth. Rachel gave a small contented sigh and blindly ran a hand over his Mohawk. When she dropped the stack of books to grip his shoulder with her other hand, Rachel remembered the reason Noah had asked her to his room in the first place and sprang off of him. "We can finish this later, Noah. Pick one."

Noah smirked and shook his head because he knew that, really, _he_ would be finishing this later without her, but he could honestly say he didn't mind waiting. Returning his focus to the task at hand, he perused the books carefully before picking one out and pulling out his phone.

"Hey, Ma. Yeah, we got here fine. I'm sharing a room with Kurt. No, Mom, I'm not making him switch with Rachel so she can sleep in my room. No, Mom, we're not having sex. Yes, mother, I know how to use a condom. Mom, I love you and all but can you just put the phone by Norah? It's time for her story. What do you mean she's asleep? Wake her up for a sec, please? I have to read and say goodnight."

Rachel giggled as she counted the number of times Noah rolled his eyes before opening the book and reading into the receiver as clearly as possible without being too loud.

_On the night you were born,  
The moon smiled with such wonder  
That the stars peeked in to see you  
And the night wind whispered,  
"Life will never be the same."  
Because there had never been anyone like you…ever in the world._

_So enchanted with you were the wind and the rain  
That they whispered the sound of your wonderful name._

"Norah…" Noah said softly in a sing-song voice before continuing with the story.

_It sailed through the farmland  
High on the breeze…  
Over the ocean…  
And through the trees…_

_Until everyone heard it  
And everyone knew  
Of the one and only ever you._

When the polar bears heard,  
They danced until dawn.  
From faraway places,  
The geese flew home.

_The moon stayed up until  
Morning next day.  
And none of the ladybugs flew away._

_So whenever you doubt just how special you are  
And you wonder who loves you, how much and how far,_

_Listen for geese honking high in the sky.  
(They're singing a song to remember you by!)  
Or notice the bears asleep at the zoo.  
(It's because they've been dancing all night for you!)  
Or drift off to sleep to the sound of the wind.  
(Listen closely…it's whispering your name again!)_

Heaven blew every trumpet  
And played every horn  
On the wonderful, marvelous  
Night you were born.

"Good night, bumblebee." Noah cooed into the phone as he closed the book and saw Rachel wipe a tear away from the corner of her eyes. "Daddy loves you so much! I'll see you as soon as I get home, ok? I want you to dream good things tonight. Dream of us winning Regionals so I can bring you home a big trophy!"

Rachel laughed quietly and gathered the books into a neat stack again before placing them on the floor next to the bed. She listened as he continued to say very daddy-ish things to Norah and smiled to herself. She knew he would be a great father, and day after day he was proving her right. When he finally hung up the phone and wiped away at his eyes, Rachel leaned across the bed and kissed the tears from his cheeks.

"God, I'm such a wuss." Noah finally said when he got better control of himself.

"Even badasses cry when they miss their daughters, Noah." Rachel smiled at the shocked look on his face when she said the word 'badass' so nonchalantly and with zero hesitation. Giggling, Rachel climbed back into his lap and straddled him before leaning down and continuing their make out session.

On Friday all fifteen glee clubs performed two songs and by the end of the night, five teams had already been eliminated from the competition. Luckily for New Directions, their renditions of 'Fame' and 'Look Through My Eyes', even with the lead females accommodating Quinn by not dancing, gave them a total of 50 out of 50 points in the first round and guaranteed them a spot in the top ten. Saturday, the clubs performed their next two pieces and another five were dropped, leaving only five teams to compete with one number a piece on Sunday. 'Iris', which Noah performed as an acoustic solo, and 'Go the Distance' performed with Kurt on lead vocals and the girls of the club acting as a background choir, earned them a 45, leaving them with a total of 95 and in fifth place, but still in the competition. Being in fifth place meant they would perform last, again, but New Directions knew that this was a sign that they would do as well at Regionals as they had at Sectionals and they took their places on stage confidently.

* (bold = Rachel, italics = Noah, bold/italics = New Directions, normal = Puckleberry goodness lol) *

The band started playing New Directions' country number and Rachel felt herself growing a bit nervous. Rachel Berry never got nervous, and she'd performed this song at rehearsal dozens of times, why now? She didn't have time to question it, though, because she could hear her cue coming up and without much thought she was stepping away from the group to sing the first verse.

**I run from hate  
I run from prejudice  
I run from pessimists  
But I run too late**

She turned to her left to see Noah stepping out of the group as well and watched with a bright smile as he continued the verse without skipping a beat.

_I run my life  
Or is it running me?  
Run from my past  
I run too fast  
Or too slow it seems_

Noah and Rachel slowly approached each other, eyes locked, as they continued the song together.

****When lies become the truth  
That's when I run to you

The other ten members of New Directions scattered across the stage in pairs for the chorus; Finn with Mercedes, Artie with Quinn, Brittany with Kurt, Santana with Mike and Tina with Matt, to sing the chorus.

_**This world keeps spinning faster  
Into a new disaster so I run to you**_

While the other boys literally spun their partners, Quinn sat in Arties lap with her arms around his neck and her feet pointed in the air as he spun them in a circle, and Noah smiled that Quinn looked like she was actually enjoying herself, despite having little involvement in the actual choreography.

_****_**I run to you, baby**_**  
And when it all starts coming undone  
Baby you're the only one I run to  
**_I run to you

_We run on fumes  
Your life and mine  
Like the sands of time  
Slippin' right on through_

**And our love's the only truth  
That's why I run to you**

_**This world keeps spinning faster  
Into a new disaster so I run to you  
**__I run to you, baby__**  
And when it all starts coming undone  
Baby you're the only one I run to  
**_I run to you

When the song ended the audience erupted with applause and everyone could see the smiles on the judges' faces. While the other members of the club were cheering and buzzing with excitement, Rachel calmly reminded that there was still an hour before results would be announced and it was best not to get their hopes too high.

"Babe, we rocked this shit." Noah whispered into her ear before kissing her temple and leading her off stage with the rest of the group. For a job well done throughout the competition and making it into the top five, Mr. Schue treated the club to ice cream with only minimal protests from Rachel. As the group walked down the block to the Coldstone they had seen on the way to the hotel, Noah, Rachel and Quinn walked ahead, keeping a distance from the rest of the group as they had been for several months now. As they looked at a picture Rachel's fathers had sent to her phone of Norah smiling.

"Is that Drizzle?"

The three jumped at the question and turned to see Finn looking down at the picture with sadness in his eyes. Not knowing what to say, Quinn just nodded before pulling out her own phone to show him her wallpaper; Norah staring up at her when she was just hours old. Finn's eyes glazed over as he took the phone from Quinn and studied the picture.

"You can meet her if you want." Quinn managed to choke out after a few moments. "I just started getting a cash allowance from MediCal so I'm getting her a crib to stay at mine and Rachel's house and you can come see her when I have her if you want."

"I'd like that." Was all Finn said as he handed Quinn back her phone and nodded in Noah's direction before walking ahead of them towards Coldstone. Quinn's eyes followed him and she nearly didn't register Noah wrapping his arms around her until he whispered in her ear.

"I think you and I are officially on the road to forgiveness, Q."

"Second place goes to…

…

…

New Directions!"

The twelve members and their chaperones began cheering and screaming loudly with excitement over placing so high in Regional competition, especially given that they had only been a Glee Club since the beginning of the school year. When everyone realized that Rachel had said nothing, and didn't seem to react to the announcement at all, Finn took it upon himself to accept the trophy himself, earning more thunderous applause from the audience as Finn raised the trophy above his head in triumph.

"I can't believe we're not going to Nationals!" Rachel shouted at the same time that the applause finally died down, causing her voice to carry throughout the auditorium. There were a few snickers from the audience and from her fellow club members, including her boyfriend, and Rachel could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment. "And I can't believe you're laughing at me, Noah."

"Rach, you just embarrassed the shit out of Aural Intensity." Noah whispered, suppressing his laughter the best he could. "We're not going to Nationals, but they're not gonna make it past round one. Besides, we beat Vocal Adrenaline, didn't we?"

Rachel smiled and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips and attempted to pull away until Noah grabbed her firmly around the waste and assaulted her mouth with his own. They had just placed in the top three of Regionals and she really thought that peck was celebratory enough? She clearly didn't know her boyfriend as well as she seemed to think.

The bus ride back from Regionals was a polar opposite of the bus ride back from Sectionals had been. The air seemed lighter, friendlier, and just all around different. The club was seated in almost exactly the same way; Brittany and Santana together, Matt and Mike across from each other, Tina, Kurt and Mercedes sitting together, and Rachel and Noah in the back of the bus. Only this time, Quinn was sitting with them, and Finn was sitting in the seat in front of them. He wasn't talking to them, yet, but the fact that he had voluntarily chosen to sit in such a close proximity to them, Noah thought, was close enough to speaking again that the silent treatment could be over looked. When they arrived back on campus, the club filed off of the bus and greeted their parents excitedly, holding the second place trophy over their heads.

Rachel, who had been holding Noah's arm tightly spotted her fathers and bolted, jerking him along after her. Joe picked her up and spun her around enthusiastically, whispering how proud he was into her hair. Seth, meanwhile, shook Noah's hand and offered his congratulations. When Joe placed Rachel back on the ground she flung her arms around Seth's neck and squealed with excitement. "It was Noah's solo that got us that far, I just know it!"

Noah could actually feel himself blushing and wanted to kick himself for letting the comment get to him like it had, but Rachel was the single most talented person he knew and for her to think that highly of him… Yeah, it got to him.

"Nah, it was all you, babe." Noah said somewhat sheepishly. "You always make the rest of us sound a million times better than we actually do."

"Noah." Rachel gave him a serious look and for a moment he was scared she would actually lecture him for what he'd said. "Modesty really, really does not suit you."

Seth and Joe both barked with laughter as Noah grinned and kissed Rachel's temple. He had really hit the jackpot with this girl. And speaking of winning the jackpot…

"Where's my mom? She has Norah." Noah scanned the parking lot and saw no signs of his mother's car anywhere.

"She wanted to surprise you when you got home." Joe said casually. "Do not look at me like that, Noah. I don't know what she's up to."

"This cannot end well." Noah groaned while Rachel squeezed his hand reassuringly.

When Quinn joined them Seth and Joe hugged and congratulated her as well, reminding her how proud they were of her. Joe began to lead the three teenagers to the car when Quinn announced that Finn had invited her to dinner at his house, and that she would be at Noah's house later to see the baby, if that was alright. Noah smirked in Finn's direction when the taller boy gave him a nod of acknowledgment.

The drive to Noah's house was filled with Rachel explaining to her fathers in detail each of the clubs performances "Kurt did fall a bit flat during the final chorus, but it could have just been my ability to recognize imperfect pitch. He did correct himself in a professional, somewhat undetectable manner though. 'Fame' was spectacular, if I do say so myself. Even with Mercedes and Santana on lead. Brittany's choreography was phenomenal, her best work so far, I think. And, Noah-"

"Yeah, babe, we get it; our glee club rocked it. We didn't get first place, but we rocked it."

When the car pulled in front of the Puckerman house, Anna and Jennifer were sitting on the front steps, Norah in her grandmother's arms. Anna looked up and darted towards the car to greet her brother excitedly when he stepped out of the car.

"Noah! Noah! Noah!" Anna flung herself at him and gripped his waist like a vice and Noah swore she'd grown at least an inch over the weekend. "I missed you! Mom said you did really good at the show! Did you bring the trophy to show me and Norah? She was good all weekend, she hardly even cried at all."

Noah frowned at that. Norah hadn't cried for him at all? Something wasn't right about that. "Since when does Norah not cry?"

"Oh, she cried, but your sister can sleep through anything." Jennifer laughed as she stood and walked towards her son to kiss his cheek before handing him his daughter. "Congratulations, Noah. I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks, Ma." Noah returned the kiss and then turned his attention to the green-eyed girl in his arms. "Hey, bumblebee! So she missed me, right? She, like, noticed I was gone at least?"

"Yes, Noah." Jennifer kissed her son's temple with a soft laugh. "She cried more than normal, and she had a harder time calming down. She did miss you, and Quinn, and even Rachel, I think."

"My dads said you have a surprise for Noah." Rachel changed the subject as her cheeks turned pink at the idea that Norah missed her.

"Well, it's actually a surprise for both you and Quinn." Josiah chimed in before Jennifer could respond. "Really, it was Rachel's idea; she just needed the three of us to pull it off." Noah looked at his girlfriend in shock at her ability to keep whatever secret they were keeping. Rachel just smiled shyly and gestured toward the house. The garage door began to rise from the pavement to reveal two cars in place of his Camaro. "Rachel said you were complaining about the Camaro not being a very practical car for you and Norah but not being able to afford anything better, and Quinn has been in need of her own car since she no longer has hers."

"A buddy of mine restores classic cars and has been looking for a decent 69 Camaro Z28 for a couple of years now." Seth jumped in as Noah continued to stare wide-eyed at the cars in front of him. "When I mentioned that Rachel's boyfriend had one that was in need of a full restoration, he offered your mother an amount she really couldn't refuse. So, Friday night he came over, took a look at your car and bought it. Then, Joe and I went out Saturday to look at possible replacements. I thought it would be cute for you two to have matching cars, Joe did not agree."

"And since Quinn isn't here, we thought we'd let you choose which car you'd like first." Joe reached into his pockets and pulled out two sets of keys, one for the Civic and the other for the Jetta. "They're the same year, and have roughly the same mileage on their engines, so really the only thing for you to decide on is which one you feel more comfortable driving."

"Quinn is gonna go nuts for the Jetta. She wanted a bug but her mom thinks they're ugly." Noah took the Honda keys from Joe and stared at them intently, admiring the logo of his new car. "I'm not being Punk'd am I? Cause I gotta say, this is not a good joke if I am."

"No, Noah." Rachel giggled. "You've been saying all along that if you and Quinn kept the baby you wanted to find a better car, now you have a better car."

"Thank you." Noah hugged Rachel, who wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed tight. Noah knew she wouldn't let him _really_ kiss her in front of her dads and his mom, but couldn't resist pressing his lips to the top of her head. "This means a lot to me, babe."

"I know." Rachel breathed out before pulling away and beaming up at him. "I knew Quinn would love the Jetta!"

"You guys all realize she still doesn't have her hormones in check right? And that she's gonna start bawling as soon as she sees this car?"

"I have Kleenex in my suitcase!" Rachel announced animatedly. "And, honestly, Noah, she'll be so ecstatic about not needing to ask for a ride anywhere that she won't have time to get emotional."

Noah rolled his eyes at her jokingly before turning back to their parents. "Thank you, really. You guys didn't have to do this. I could have gotten by with my car."

"Noah, your car needed to be replaced. Bill is going to love restoring it!" Seth reassured him, patting him on the shoulder.

"We didn't do much, son, but you're welcome." Joe smiled and when he saw Noah tense slightly he laughed. "This isn't the part where we hug awkwardly, I promise."

"Thank God." Noah laughed with him and shook his hand, thanking him once more before he turned to his mom. "Thanks, Mom. Don't really think I deserve it, but thanks anyway."

"Ugh! Are we done with this Hallmark moment yet?" Anna exclaimed dramatically from her mother's side. "Mom promised pizza and I'm starving!" Laughing at the eight-year-old, the two families filed into the house and spent the rest of the evening eating pizza and watching Disney movies until Quinn arrived, announcing that she and Finn were "almost, but not quite" back together.

'Can only go up from here.' Noah thought to himself while Rachel and Quinn squealed together as if they were in a bad romantic comedy. It was strange, he thought, how they went from completely hating each other to being practically sisters in a few short months. Every time he saw them together it was like something out of the Twilight Zone, and every time he saw them together he had to fight back a smile because he knew Norah was what brought the three of them together. Yes, three, because in the past nearly four months, that's what they had become; the three of them. And, even if most of the time he couldn't stand Quinn, and she did steal quite a bit of his girlfriend's time, he found that, really, he didn't mind. Not in the least.

Noah came home from work one Sunday evening to find that Rachel was already at his house, or he at least assumed so since her car was in the driveway. He knew Quinn had been there earlier to drop Norah off with Jennifer, but she was at work now and he couldn't fathom why Rachel would be there when she knew he wouldn't be off work until seven. He walked into the house quietly and looked around the living room for his girlfriend.

"She's with the baby in your room, Noah." Jennifer said as if reading his mind. "She came over not long after you left because she insisted I get some rest. She's been taking good care of Norah. I'm so glad you didn't screw things up with her again, Noah."

"Thanks, ma." Noah rolled his eyes but headed for the stairs to his bedroom. When he heard how quiet it was, he made sure to open his door as silently as possible, in case Norah was sleeping. As soon as the door was open enough for him to peek inside, he saw that she was, with Rachel. On Rachel, actually. Rachel lay on her back on the bed, Norah sleeping soundly on her chest with Rachel's hand placed protectively on her back. As Noah watched his two favorite girls (though he doubted that Rachel would appreciate being called a girl) sleeping on his bed, he dug into his pocket to find his phone. Turning on the camera, he snapped a picture and changed his wallpaper.

Noah carefully pried Rachel's hand off of Norah's back and cradled the infant in his arms. Rachel shifted onto her side and curled into a semi-fetal position but didn't wake from her slumber. Noah wondered briefly how long she'd been there with Norah for her to be so tired, and then turned his attention back to the sleeping child in his arms. He smiled down at his daughter, who looked more like him every single day and was grateful for so much all at once that it hit him like a flood. He was grateful to Norah for being such a perfect, beautiful little girl, and grateful to Quinn for allowing him the chance to know her, and grateful to his mother and sister for being so supportive of his situation, and not complaining when Norah cried in the middle of the night or when he snapped at them from irritation caused by his lack of sleep. But, mostly, he was grateful for Rachel, because she stood by him when she could have so easily walked away, and had she been any other girl she probably would have.

'Someday' Noah thought as he drifted off to sleep, 'she'll be holding _our_ baby in her arms. Someday…' And, really, the thought didn't scare him at all. He figured he could spend forever with Rachel, Norah and whatever children he and Rachel had years from now. Yeah, forever _was_ the rest of his life but, really, what better way was there to spend it? As quietly as he could, he began to recite to the Norah a book Rachel had bought for her the day she had been born. Again.

"On the night you were born,  
The moon smiled with such wonder  
That the stars peeked in to see you  
And the night wind whispered,  
"Life will never be the same."

**UP NEXT: I've got a few projects I'm working on. First up will be a one-shot titled "They're Just Things That People Say" that serves as a sequel to this story, based on aforementioned alternate endings, so I strongly recommend you go check them out! Should be up within the next 3-4 days, depending on my beta, because I finally decided I need to use one lol.**

**The next project will be a three-shot focused solely on Quinn's perspective from the time she moved into the Berry household until Norah is born. The idea has been in my head for a while, and I'll get it posted as soon as it's actually written and beta'd.**

**After that, there's a couple fics I'm thinking of writing. A Quinn/Artie friendship fic that would be roughly 20-ish chapters or a St. Puckleberry Finn (this will probably end with all of them single or with other people, though because I can't decide if I like Jesse or not lol) quadrangle fic around 25 or so chapters, give or take. A Shelby-centric fic, with sporadic chapters throughout her life from the time she answered the ad until her appearance in the alternate ending, and beyond. Your thoughts? Which should I start to write first?**

**I hope to hear from you guys soon! I have a feeling this summer is going to be a great one! Reviews are love, and I love that people liked this story, even if it is quite short. I think I needed to show myself I could finish one before I started something longer.**

**Love & Rockets :]**


	10. Chapter 10 Sorta

Chapter 8 Alternative ending is now posted to my livejournal account, you can go there and read it and leave your comments there, or review this A/N in place of that, please keep in mind that this "chapter" will be deleted within a couple of days, so if you're at all interested in the alternative endings, please go read it now! The link to my livejournal is on my FF profile!

Love & Rockets :]


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